Free Republic

For the second time in a week, a plane from the Israeli flagship airline El Al was targeted by hostile elements trying to divert the aircraft from its planned course. The newest incident involved a plane traveling across airspace on Saturday night where the Iran-backed Houthis reside; Somalian sources insisted to the Israeli broadcaster Kann that a group in Somaliland that issued false instructions to the flight crew was responsible. Suggestions were made that the effort was an attempt to steer the plane toward dangerous areas. But the plane’s staff used other communication methods to avert any trouble, cross-referencing data...

If American planes are not allowed to operate emergency flights to Israel, Israeli planes will not be allowed to land in the US, N12 reported Saturday. The Biden administration accused Israel of violating the freedoms of the air and creating a crisis with the new administration following the Israeli border closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, N12 reported. The administration then demanded that planes from the US be allowed to land in Israel. A source in the Foreign Ministry denied the report and told The Jerusalem Post that they were not aware of any threats. Last week, the US Department...

From the Israeli captain’s emotional greeting in Arabic upon takeoff in Tel Aviv, to the warm Emirati reception on the ground in scorching Abu Dhabi, it was obvious this was no typical flight. Monday’s El Al flight LY971 marked the first-ever direct flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates, placing a significant stamp on this month’s historic U.S.-brokered deal to normalize relations between the two nations. The journey was steeped in symbolism. U.S. and Israeli flags adorned the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport as Israeli music played, and the word “peace” was emblazoned in English, Hebrew and Arabic above the...

Jerusalem (AFP) — An Israeli-American delegation will fly on the first commercial flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates on Monday after a landmark deal between the countries, officials said Friday. “An official Israeli delegation will go to Abu Dhabi on a direct El Al flight for the first time ever,” a spokesman for Israel’s national carrier said, noting the flight from Tel Aviv was set for Monday. Jared Kushner, top aide and son-in-law to US President Donald Trump, has confirmed he will be on the flight, alongside National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.

Ultra-Orthodox passengers caused uproar on two flights from New York to Israel because they were worried they would still be in the air as Jewish Shabbat commenced, it has emerged. One El Al service from JFK diverted to Athens, Greece, amid angry scenes among those who feared they would be mid-flight at the start of the Jewish holy day, witnesses say. Pilots on a second El Al flight considered diverting to Rome for similar reasons before continuing to Israel. Both flights had been delayed for hours on Thursday because of stormy weather on the US East Coast. Religious Jews observe...

The national flag carrier for Israel, El Al, is in hot water again for moving women passengers on a flight to accommodate ultra-orthodox Jewish men. El Al flouted a 2017 court ruling that, on the grounds of discrimination against women, bans the practice of moving female passengers for the Jewish men who refuse to sit next to them because of their beliefs. A witness, Khen Rotem, posted on Facebook that El Al flight 2 departing New York (JFK) for Tel Aviv (TLV) on Friday night was delayed for more than an hour after four ultra-orthodox men refused to take their...

It will compete with United (UAL.N), which launched flights between the two cities in 2016 to accommodate Israel’s flourishing high-tech sector. Passengers on business often fly between Silicon Valley and Israel, which is one of the largest global tech centers.

During the raid to arrest two robbery suspects at a local apartment, police said officers uncovered details of a possible terrorist cell, with alleged plans for an attack in the Southland. Images In an exclusive investigation, Channel 4 News has learned more about the two suspects under investigation by the FBI's counter terrorism task force and an alleged plot that targeted several prominent locations in the Los Angeles area.ANA GARCIA (REPORTER): Is it possible that an Islamic Prison Gang with possible links to Middle Eastern operatives were planning to blow up these targets? El Al Airlines at LAXIsraeli Consulate On...

An El-Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv was turned into an “11-hour nightmare” after hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jewish passengers refused to sit next to women. According to those on board the flight descended into chaos because of their demands. The flight was full with Israelis, secular, orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews – known as Haredim – flying home to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. Even though the passengers had been pre-assigned seats before boarding, the ultra-Orthodox Jews refused to accept the arrangements because their beliefs required that men and women were segregated

An Austrian man caused mayhem on an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Munich on Thursday, when he started shouting about terror attacks and bombs. Two men shot in Munich beer garden (27 May 14) Firefighters rescue man from women’s jail (23 May 14) Cheap flights get pricier as airlines expand (24 Apr 14) The 25-year-old man, from Tyrol, had to be restrained and the Boeing 737 made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria. About two hours into the flight the man jumped up and started shouting: "Here are the terrorists, we have a bomb! You’ll all be blown...

More than a month after El Al sent a furious letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complaining that Turkey was monopolizing the highly lucrative route between Israel and Turkey by banning Israeli airlines, Jerusalem has done nothing to change the outrageous situation, the airline’s CEO told The Times of Israel. Failure to tackle the issue could prove so costly as to bring down El Al, he said. . . . Air traffic between Israel and Turkey has soared by over 150 percent since the 2010 Gaza flotilla episode sent bilateral ties hurtling into the abyss. But only Turkey is benefiting...

El Al Airlines will no longer fly to Eilat because of safety concerns over new flight paths. The airline said Tuesday that it was canceling its night flights to Eilat. Two months ago, El Al said it was halting its daytime flights to the southern resort city. The decision on the night flights will go into effect in two weeks, when the routes changed for daytime hours will go into effect for nighttime hours as well. "The Civil Aviation Authority announced that it is changing the route of night flights as of Nov. 18 to a route which El Al...

Palestinian Authority hackers briefly managed to pull down a few sites in Israel Wednesday night in the ongoing cyberwar launched by Iran and anti-Israel Arabs. Among the sites that fell prey to attacks were the home pages of El Al Airlines, the Dan Bus Company, the Israel Festival, Israel's CinemaTek and Ha'aretz newspaper. The home pages were replaced with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slogans such as "Free Palestine, Death to Israel," "Jew = Nazi" and a promise that "4 more Gilad Shalits will be abducted." The latter hacker remark is a reference to IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas-allied terrorists...

The Jihad Will Be YouTubed by Raffaello Pantucci December 15, 2011 FOREIGN POLICY - The AFPAK Channel SNIPPET: "While clearly the technology to make such videos is something that is universal, it does seem as though it is aspirant jihadists in the West who find it easiest to use. There was no evidence that Gul was being directed by foreign terrorist organizations to produce his material, and his case shows the continued existence of young Westerners producing radical material on their own. It may indeed be the case that the virtual armies have yet to fully emerge as active warriors...

Hacker “OxOmar,” dubbed the “Saudi Hacker,” struck again on Monday, this time shutting down the El Al and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange information site. The cyber attack did not affect the site on which investors trade stocks, and trading was not affected. The hacker struck last month by invading thousands of accounts of Israeli credit card holders. The El Al site was shut down as of mid-morning, and the Stock Exchange site was available but not operable. OxOmar blocked the El Al site but did not take control of it or damage its content. The real damage is to the...

Passengers flying through Boston’s Logan International Airport will notice the security screeners are chattier than usual, but it’s not an improved customer service policy. On Tuesday the Transportation Security Administration began a test-run at Logan of its SPOT program, which stands for Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques. SPOT uses trained screeners known as Behavior Detection Officers (BDOs) to determine if passengers are a threat, based on their reactions to a set of routine questions. “The vast majority of passengers will experience a casual greeting conversation with the BDO as they go through identity verification,” a TSA spokesperson said. “A...

America must focus its finite capabilities on those who crave the destruction of planes and the people who ride them. What would that profile be? Today's threat comes almost exclusively from militant-Islamic males between about 18 and 35 who hail from the Middle East and predominantly Muslim African and south-Asian nations. This profile was not drawn by anti-Muslim bigots, nervous Jews, or paranoid Southern Baptists. The terrorists themselves created this profile. It's past time to employ terrorist profiling to shield Americans from those who want to murder us.

Back in January, the Obama administration announced a new policy for airline safety: country-based profiling. Travelers from 14 countries known to harbor terrorists would automatically receive extra scrutiny, including additional pat-downs or full-body scans. The named states were: Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. My reaction at the time was: You mean you weren’t already doing that? Apparently not. When underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab traveled from Nigeria to Detroit without baggage (it was reported at the time that he had purchased a one-way ticket, but that proved to be...

It is the topic on everyone’s mind right now. If you know you have travel plans, you’ve begun dreading the experience more than ever. If flying gives you anxiety, it has most likely taken a backseat to the security measures you know you are about to experience. You‘ve never “sexted” and sending naked pictures of yourself on the computer or your phone never even crossed your mind -but with the new TSA imaging and the picture we’ve all seen (unless you’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere) you know the possibilities of real humiliation exist and your personal images could...

TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israel's national airline El Al on Monday apologized to a visiting professor strip-searched on her way to conference in Jerusalem, an Israeli newspaper reported. Heather Bradshaw, a neuroscientist, was travelling from the UK to Israel at the invitation of Hebrew University when she was subjected a physical examination in which she was asked to remove her bra. She told the Israeli daily Haaretz that El Al security personnel detained her at Luton airport in London on 31 October, confiscated all of her belongings, and repeatedly questioned her. After nearly an hour of examinations, she was...