Europe issues threat over Israeli airline security system
The European Union has issued a veiled threat regarding its air services agreement with Israel in response to an Israeli program that requires commercial pilots to have an Israeli-issued card with a personalized PIN that must be entered before a plane can enter into a landing pattern at Ben Gurion Airport. The program is still in a pilot phase, and according to the New York Times, it has led to two incidents in which IAF jets were scrambled to investigate commercial airliners. The Times reports that Israeli pilots are also unhappy about the program (Hat Tip: Joshuapundit).But alas, the European threat doesn't seem to have much to do with any of those things. It seems that the Europeans are upset with the notion that they might have to designate in advance which pilots can fly into Israel.
In addition to safety concerns, international airlines and the European Union say, the program creates logistical problems by separating pilots into those with PINs who can fly into Israel and those who cannot. The director general for the European Commission’s Air Transport Directorate, Daniel Calleja, told the Israelis this could restrict “the ability of airlines to efficiently allocate their personnel.” In a letter sent earlier this month, Mr. Calleja made a veiled threat that this could “have immediate implications on the current air services agreement between the EU and Israel.”It makes sense that before Israel issues an electronic card, it will investigate the pilot in question to ensure that s/he is not a hostile person who is likely to try to crash a plane into the Azrieli Center.
The other - bigger - advantage to the system seems obvious: If such a system had been in effect on 9/11, Mohamed Atta and friends would have been shot down rather than being allowed to crash their planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. That might have saved a lot of lives on the ground.
How does that stack up against the EU's personnel allocation concerns?
Read the whole thing.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:53 AM
4 Comments:
Considering Europe is more concerned with keeping its restive Muslim population quiescent, it stands to reason Israel's security concerns take a back seat to European appeasement of Islam. And if Europe goes through with its threat, who is harmed? Not Israel.
I don't understand your last comment. How would a PIN system, which concerns pilots, have prevented 9/11?
As usual NormanF is right. And after Cameron gave notice whose side he is on, it becomes plainer.
Also, Europe is under pressure from Osama/Obama to continue to attack Israel in any petty ways it can.
I must be stupid if I did not wonder why the US did not scramble jets to shoot down the 9/11 planes.
I got my answer from the Iranian agent, who lives in the US. He said he noticed increased activities in the Iranian spy population in the US just prior to 9/11. He warned the CIA something was about to happen. All this is available on the web.
Xhosa,
The hijackers would not have had the codes and would not have been allowed into the airspace close to the airport (both the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are close to major airports).
Under the Israeli protocol, the Air Force would scramble and force them down. The people on the planes would have been killed. But the 3,000 people on the ground would not have been.
Post a Comment
<< Home