El Al Flight 253 attack

The El Al Flight 253 attack was a terrorist attack perpetrated by the PLO against a Boeing 707 passenger plane while it was on the ground at a stopover in Athens en route from Tel Aviv, Israel, to New York City, United States.

El Al Flight 253
A similar Boeing 707
Terrorist Incident
DateDecember 26, 1968
SummaryTerrorist attack
SiteEllinikon International Airport, Athens, Greece
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 707
OperatorEl Al
Flight originTel Aviv, Israel
StopoverEllinikon International Airport, Athens, Greece
DestinationNew York City, New York, United States
Passengers41
Crew10
Fatalities1
Injuries2
Survivors50

Background

Days before the attack, the European and American authorities warned European airlines about bomb threats during the pre-Christmas holiday rush.[1]

The incident came five months after a group of self-styled Palestinian Arab commandos hijacked another El Al airliner, shortly after takeoff from Rome for Tel Aviv on July 23 and forced it to fly to Algiers. Algeria eventually released all passengers and crewmen and the plane.

Attack

Two Palestine Liberation Organization members attacked the plane as it was about to depart from a layover in Athens, Greece on December 26, 1968. One passenger, Israeli Leon Shirdan, 50, of Haifa, a marine engineer, was shot dead. He was survived by his wife and then 15-year-old daughter. Two unidentified women were injured, one by a bullet, the other as she leaped from the jet when the door was opened. The two terrorists were 19-year-old Naheb H. Suleiman, born in Tripoli, Libya, of Palestinian parents, and 25-year-old Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, born in 1943 in Mandatory Palestine. They were members of the Lebanese-based militant organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.[2] The two dashed out of the transit lounge of Athens Airport just as the Israeli plane, parked 200 yards (180 m) away, was preparing to take off. The plane had flown in earlier from Tel Aviv. Mohammad fired at the plane for more than a minute with a submachine gun, killing one, while Suleiman threw two hand grenades, creating panic aboard the plane carrying 10 crew members and 41 passengers.[3]

As a result of the attack, the plane was damaged. The two men had arrived on an earlier Olympic Airways flight from Cairo. 37 of the 41 passengers boarded the flight in Tel Aviv, and four boarded in Athens.[4]

Aftermath

Perpetrators

The two men were taken into custody by Greek authorities.[3] Both confessed they were members of a Palestinian organization and had planned to destroy the jet and kill all Israeli passengers aboard.[4] Mohammad was sentenced to 17 years and 5 months in prison, but was freed after less than 4 months after another Palestinian terrorist group hijacked a Greek airliner and demanded his release in the Olympic Airways Flight 255 hijacking.[3] Subsequently, he successfully hid his terrorist past and emigrated to Canada. Once Canadian authorities learned of his crime, a protracted extradition process culminated in his extradition to Lebanon in 2013.[3]

Retributory raid

Two days after the attack, Israel raided the Beirut International Airport, destroying 12 (or possibly 13) Lebanese passenger airplanes. The attack drew a sharp rebuke from the US, who stated that nothing suggested that the Lebanese authorities had anything to do with the El Al attack.[5]

References
  1. "ATHENS INCIDENT Arabs attack Israeli jet". The Canberra Times. Vol. 43, no. 12, 193. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 27 December 1968. p. 1. Retrieved 7 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "Should states be strictly liable for failing to prevent trans-border terrorism? A critique of Farouk Umar Abdumutalab". legality blog. September 12, 2010.
  3. Bell, Philip (13 May 2013). "After 26-year fight, Canada finally deports Palestinian terrorist convicted of attack on Israeli plane". National Post. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  4. "One Killed by Arabs on New York-Bound Jetliner" (PDF). Watertown Daily Times. December 26, 1968. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-12-19.
  5. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Israel, Washington, December 29, 1968: Subject: Israeli Attack on Khaldeh Airport.
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