Israel's History of Hijacked Planes and Heroic Rescues

Recent events have brought to mind Israel's history of aircraft hijackings, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s, a period marked by both terror and acts of bravery. According to intelligence heritage researcher Lt. Col. (res.) Gideon Mitchinik, the last hijacking of a plane with significant Israeli involvement was in 1976, referring to the Air France flight to Entebbe. Mitchinik noted that while other hijackings occurred later, they did not involve a substantial Israeli presence.

The first El Al hijacking took place in July 1968, when a flight from Rome to Israel was seized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The plane, carrying 38 passengers and 10 crew members, was diverted to Algeria. After 39 days of negotiations, Israel released 24 terrorists in exchange for the 48 hostages, under Prime Minister Levi Eshkol.

Further incidents included an attack on an Israeli plane in Athens in December 1968 with no casualties, and an attempted hijacking of an El Al flight in Zurich in February 1969. During the Zurich incident, El Al security guard Mordechai Rachamim engaged the hijackers in a firefight, killing the commander and holding the others at bay until Swiss forces arrived. One pilot was killed and others were injured in this event.

In August 1969, a TWA flight from Rome to Athens, carrying four Israeli women and two Israeli men, was hijacked by the PFLP and diverted to Damascus. The women were released immediately, while the men were held for three months before being freed in prisoner exchanges. One of the hijackers was Leila Khaled, who would later attempt another hijacking.

February 1970 saw a dramatic event where a Swissair flight from Switzerland to Israel exploded in mid-air due to a bomb in the cargo hold, killing all on board. This bomb was intended for a different flight but was rerouted due to postal delays. Simultaneously, a bomb detonated on an Austrian Airlines flight, causing a hole in the aircraft. However, the crew managed to land the plane safely. These incidents led to heightened security measures in air travel, including mail screening and the policy of offloading passenger luggage if the passenger did not board.

In September 1970, Leila Khaled and a partner attempted to hijack an El Al flight from Amsterdam. The hijackers demanded access to the cockpit, but a flight attendant intervened, sustaining fatal injuries. The pilot then performed a sudden dive, causing the hijackers to lose balance. One hijacker was killed by security, and passengers subdued Khaled until the plane made an emergency landing in London. Khaled was briefly detained and later released in a prisoner exchange.

The Lod Airport massacre in May 1972, carried out by the Red Army faction with participation from Kozo Okamoto, resulted in 25 deaths. While the PLO eventually ceased hijacking operations due to reputational damage, George Habash's organization continued. The final major hijacking mentioned was the June 1976 Air France flight from Tel Aviv, which landed in Athens and was then taken by four hijackers (two German, two Palestinian) to Entebbe, Uganda. This hijacking was believed by then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to be linked to an earlier foiled attempt in Kenya to attack an Israeli plane, where several German and Palestinian terrorists were captured and secretly transferred to Israel for interrogation.

Mitchinik also drew a parallel to the passengers of Flight 93 during the September 11th attacks, whose struggle against the hijackers led to the plane crashing before reaching its intended target.