Posted on 11/17/2002 9:38:22 PM PST by GaryMontana
Alert security guards and passengers prevented a possible hijacking Sunday evening of an El Al flight from Israel en route to Istanbul after an Israeli Arab tried to stab a stewardess and rush the cockpit. It is still unclear whether the man was simply an eccentric or if he did indeed intend to take over the plane.
As a result, Ben-Gurion International Airport was temporarily closed Sunday night in order to re-assess the security situation and to determine how the man managed to smuggle a pocketknife past the stringent ground security checks. The airport was re-opened a short while later.
The man was seized and handcuffed and taken for questioning in Istanbul, following which he will be turned over to Israeli security. The plane, with its 170 passengers, landed safely in Istanbul.
The flight, 581, took off from Israel at 8:15 P.M. local time, and eventually landed in Istanbul at 10:00 P.M.
"We heard people saying there was fighting and half a minute later it became clear that from row five or six a man ran amok towards the pilot's cabin, attacked a stewardess and tried to enter the cockpit," an Israeli passenger on the plane told Army Radio.
"We saw a stewardess running like crazy from the front of the place to the business section...she was terrified," said the passenger, identified as Menachem. Security guards "threw him to the floor with his legs spread and his face to the floor. The passengers were hysterical but the flight attendants were very cool, they calmed us down", he said.
Director-General of the Israel Airports Authority, Gabi Ophir, has launched an investigation into the incident in order to determine how the man managed to smuggle a pocketknife past the ground security guards. Amos Shapira, Director-General of El Al, personally congratulated the security guards on board who thwarted the attack.
An Istanbul airport official said one "terrorist" was being held in custody.
El Al is widely regarded as the best protected airline in the world, but also one of the most threatened. From the late 1960s into the 1980s, El Al planes and passengers were subjected to shooting attacks, hijacking and bombing attempts.
El Al's formidable security includes armed guards at check-in, on-board marshals and extensive searches of luggage. Passengers are told to arrive three hours ahead of flights to allow enough time for the security checks.
On the Fourth of July, an Egyptian immigrant, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, opened fire at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles Airport, killing two people before he was shot dead by an airline security guard
1. Muslim Arabs cause Terrorism 2. If there were no Muslim Arabs in the USA September 11, 2001 would never have taken place. 3. Solution stop any further Arab Muslim immigration 4. Remove all non USA citizens of Arab muslim decent. 5. No more student visas to Arab muslims 6. No more allowing there hate groups to spread in the USA 7. It is not our fault they are having a population explosion. Let them solve their own problems. Don not let them export their evil to the USA. 8. Defend our borders from illegal immigration. 9. Open up Anwar for oil exploration 10. Develop alternative fuels to be used instead of petroleum products.
Also, please enlighten me as to the stoped thing... I'm feeling a little st*p*d today.
Turkish Radio and Television identified him as Tevfik Fukra. El Al said he was an Arab carrying an Israeli passport.
The name Tevfik sounds Turkish, doesn't it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.