Video: Muslims use Ben Gurion Airport synagogue as mosque, prayer shawls as prayer rugs
This disturbing video was shot in the Ben Gurion Airport synagogue, apparently on Sunday night or Monday morning. I first saw it on Facebook last night when the holiday ended.
Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.
To me, the question is why the airport synagogue was open at all on a day when it was clear that there were not going to be any Orthodox Jews passing through. Chabad is in charge of the synagogue, and someone ought to make sure that they see this video if they have not already.
According to the Facebook post, the Muslims in the video are Turkish and wandered into the synagogue by 'accident.' There are several night flights to Istanbul from Ben Gurion on Turkish Airlines....
Oh my... Somali bomber was meant to be on Turkish Air flight
A Somali suicide bomber who was sucked out a hole in a Daallo Airlines flight from Mogadishu to Dijbouti last Tuesday was actually meant to be on a Turkish Air flight to Turkey along with 73 other passengers.
The 74 passengers aboard the flight were originally checked in with
Turkish Airlines, which flies to Somalia three times per week, Mohamed
Ibrahim Yasin Olad, Daallo Airlines chief told Al Jazeera on Sunday.
"They were not our passengers. Turkish Airlines cancelled its flight
from Mogadishu that morning because their incoming flight from Djibouti
could not come to Mogadishu because of what they said was strong
wind," Olad said.
"They requested we carry the passengers on their behalf to Djibouti
where they would continue their journey on a Turkish Airlines flight,"
Olad added.
And the Turks? They're trying to disown the whole story.
"Turkish Airlines have not been in contact with us since the incident
happened. You can say they are trying to distance themselves from the
incident." Olad said.
Turkish Airlines suspended its flights to Somalia on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera contacted Turkish Airlines for comment but so far did not get a response.
Israelis who found themselves in Turkey when the FAA ban on flying to Israel was announced are stuck. Turkish Airlines is not flying to Israel before July 31, and the Turkish authorities refuse to let El Al in.
Israelis yelled at Turks in Ataturk airport today, after the US
Federal Aviation Administration lifted its ban on flights to Tel Aviv,
and Turkish Airlines responded by extending its ban until July 31.
Placing
nearly four thousand stranded Israelis on outbound flights has been a
challenge, no doubt aggravated by the fact that Turkey will not let El
Al, Israel's national airline, land at its airports to airlift out its
citizens.
One religious Israeli woman, on her third visit to the massive
Turkish hub, said she was prepared to bear the wrath of her family and
break Shabbat if she could just get a flight home on Saturday morning.
But those flights, too, were cancelled, as nearly all European airlines followed the Americans in lifting the ban.
Another
Israeli man complained, quite loudly, that the airline was suggesting
he spend hundreds of dollars to reroute through Amman. Yet another said
she was prepared to travel by boat before remaining in Constantinople
any longer.
Turkish Airlines offered passengers one night free in a four star
hotel, within the city limits here in Istanbul, including food and
transportation to and from the airport.
But with days more on the
ground, Israelis - and foreign nationals planning travel to Israel -
will accrue steep costs to extend their stays.
For those of you who thought you were saving money by flying Turkish, maybe you want to reconsider next trip?
Oh my... Main suspects in Malaysia Airlines disappearance are... the pilots!
My post about EgyptAir 990 last week was apparently prescient. CNN is reporting that US intelligence officials believe that the pilots are the primary suspects in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 last Friday night.
As I already reported last night, Malaysian officials have searched the home of the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and now it turns out they've searched the home of the co-pilot too.
Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.
As the video reports, the pilots apparently turned the jet at the perfect spot - at the point where the jet was handed off from Malaysian to Vietnamese controllers. But if the Malaysian authorities found anything in their homes, they're not saying.
The Malaysian government
had been looking for a reason to search the home of the pilot and the
co-pilot for several days. But it was only in the last 24 to 36 hours,
when radar and satellite data came to light, that authorities believed
they had sufficient reason to go through the residences, according to
the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The Malaysians don't do
this lightly," the official said. It's not clear whether the Malaysian
government believes one or both the men could be responsible for what
happened when the Boeing 777-200 ER disappeared March 8 en route from
Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
The officials emphasize that they don't know yet what really happened to the plane. But here's the best theory. To those of you who have been following it should sound familiar. It's the southern corridor theory.
Flight 370 took off from
Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. on March 8. The last satellite communication
from the plane occurred at 8:11 a.m., Najib said, well past the
scheduled arrival time in Beijing.
That last communication,
Najib said, was in one of two possible traffic corridors shown on a map
released to the press. A northern arc stretches from the border of
Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, and a southern arc
spans from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
"Due to the type of
satellite data, we are unable to confirm the precise location of the
plane when it last made contact with the satellite," Najib said.
Because the northern
parts of the traffic corridor include some tightly guarded airspace over
India, Pakistan, and even some U.S. installations in Afghanistan, U.S.
authorities believe it more likely the aircraft crashed into waters
outside of the reach of radar south of India, a U.S. official told CNN.
If it had flown farther north, it's likely it would have been detected
by radar.
Nonetheless for the last
36 hours, the U.S. military and intelligence community has been
reviewing all satellite imagery and electronic data it collects from the
region for any sign of an explosion or crash, according to another U.S.
official directly familiar with that effort.
Najib said authorities were ending search operations in the South China Sea and reassessing the deployment of assets.
"This new satellite information has a significant impact on the nature and scope of the search operation," he said.
Investigators, he said,
have confirmed by looking at the raw satellite data that the plane in
question was the Malaysia Airlines jet.
The same conclusion was
reached by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. National
Transportation Safety Board, the British Air Accidents Investigation
Branch and the Malaysian authorities, all of whom were working
separately with the same data, he said.
Well, if it didn't crash it landed on some abandoned island somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean and we'll hear a ransom demand sometime soon. That appears unlikely. Given the level of satellite information available today, it seems really unlikely that there would be an airstrip in the middle of nowhere that could land a 777 that hasn't shown up on the satellite data.
If you're wondering how they flew out of the corridor undetected, this might have had something to do with it.
Hours before Najib's
announcement, U.S. officials told CNN the flight had made drastic
changes in altitude and direction after disappearing from civilian
radar.
Malaysian military radar
showed the plane climbing to 45,000 feet -- which is above its approved
altitude limit -- soon after disappearing from civilian radar screens
and then dropping to 23,000 feet before climbing again, a U.S. official
familiar with the investigation said.
The jetliner was flying "a strange path," the official said on condition of anonymity. The details of the radar readings were first reported by The New York Times on Friday.
What's unsaid in all this is that Malaysia is - you guessed it - a Muslimcountry. As is Egypt. I hear from Israelis all the time how it's 'safe' to fly Turkish Air and Royal Jordanian to the US and the Far East, and by the way it's 'cheaper.' Maybe this incident will make them rethink that assessment.
UPDATE 1:52 PM
I meant to add this to the post this morning and I forgot.
Can someone please explain to me why the ACRS and the transponder on a commercial jetliner can be shut off? This isn't a military plane flying stealth. Why shouldn't the ACRS and transponder be on at all times?
20 Israelis on plane that made emergency landing in Tehran
There are a lot of things I will do to get frequent flier miles. There are also things I won't do. One of them is to fly Turkish Airlines (or the national airline of any other country that has cordial relations with Iran) on a flight that overflies Iran or any other enemy country.
20 Israelis should say the blessing that one says after arriving on an overseas flight with a lot more fervor this morning. Overnight, they were on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Mumbai (probably to save money because it's cheaper than flying El Al non-stop from Tel Aviv) that made an emergency landing in Tehran to evacuate an ill passenger. Fortunately, that passenger was not Israeli, and the rest of the flight was allowed to leave.
Tel Aviv Istanbul weekly flights: Turkish airlines 112 - El Al 0
What's wrong with this picture?
What's wrong with it is that there are 112 weekly Turkish flights between Tel Aviv and Istanbul and NO El Al flights. El Al is furious. And Israel's government doesn't seem to care.
Since the Prime Minister’s Office and the
Transportation Ministry seem unwilling, for political reasons, to
challenge the Turks on their refusal to accommodate Israel’s special
security requirements, effectively preventing Israeli airlines from
landing in their country, El Al is now pinning its hopes on Avigdor
Liberman, Elyezer Shkedy said. Israel’s newly returned foreign minister
is known not to shy away from controversial issues and has spoken out
frequently in the past against the current government in Ankara.
“What’s happening now between Israel and
Turkey is unacceptable,” El Al’s CEO and president Shkedy, a former
commander of the Israel Air Force, said in an interview. “This is
something I can’t understand, honestly. I can’t understand how the
leaders of the State of Israel allow this situation to continue.”
Shkedy refused to estimate how much the crisis
was costing El Al, but described it as a financial “disaster” that
could bring down the company. The government in Jerusalem would surely
not want to see “Israeli aviation crash because of this,” he added, but
this scenario is “a real possibility.”
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
from the increase: The total number of Turkish airline flights out of
Ben Gurion Airport each week has reached a staggering 112. The total
number of Israeli airline flights on the route: zero.
For reasons Jerusalem blames squarely on Ankara, Israeli airlines have
been unable to fly to any destination in Turkey since 2007 and are
locked out of the market. As first reported by The Times of Israel,
Shkedy on October 22 sent a letter to Netanyahu
in which he demanded Israel preclude Turkish airlines from flying to
Israel as long as Ankara prevents Israeli airlines from competing, or at
least halt the expansion of Turkish companies.
...
Until 2007, Israeli companies operated about
30 weekly flights to and from Turkey. But starting that year, Turkish
authorities ceased accommodating Israel’s security requirements, thus
preventing Israeli companies from landing in Turkey. Israel’s security
agencies have higher security requirements than other countries’
regarding the operation of flights. Officials in Jerusalem refuse to
specify Israel’s security demands on record, but in private
conversations say accommodations could certainly be found if there was a
desire to do so, and squarely blame Turkish authorities for
deliberately making the Israelis’ lives more difficult.
“Everywhere we fly to — China, India, Ukraine,
France, Belgium, England — everywhere we found a solution,” El Al’s
deputy director for international affairs, Stanley Morais, told The
Times of Israel. “There are all these countries that have all these
requirements and demands. How come in Turkey we can’t find a solution?
It doesn’t make sense.”
Other countries, most recently Russia, have
also sometimes objected to Israel’s special security procedures, but a
crisis was averted at the last minute with Moscow when Jerusalem
threatened to bar Russian planes from landing in Israel, according to
Shkedy. “We told them that until they let us fly there, you won’t be
able to fly here to Israel,” he said. “They found a solution [on the
security arrangements]. A solution that both Russia and Israel were
satisfied with.”
I find it amazing that the government has allowed this situation to continue for the last six years....
Yilmaz Ozgenturk, a captain at national carrier Turkish
Airlines (THY), left the cockpit after announcing to passengers in
Turkish and English that he would not fly to Beirut because he was
protesting the abduction, the Milliyet newspaper reported.
The plane eventually took off after a new pilot was sent.
The airline has launched a probe into the action of the captain, who reportedly said: "That was my personal choice."
On August 9, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Turkish
Airlines crew from Beirut's international airport to a hotel in the
city, and snatched its two pilots.
A previously unknown group calling itself Zuwwar Imam
al-Rida claimed the abduction, and demanded that Turkey use its
influence with Syrian rebels it backs to secure the release of nine
Lebanese Shiites kidnapped in Syria in May 2012.
I don't understand why the airline is still flying to Beirut. If the Lebanese authorities cannot or will not protect their personnel, they ought not to be flying there.
Turkish Airlines is being accused of tax fraud to the tune of NIS 1.5 million, and the tax authorities are contemplating criminal action against the local branch manager.
Turkish Airlines' Israeli
office is currently being investigated for alleged tax evasion amounting
to over 1.5 million shekels ($418,000), a statement by the Justice
Ministry said Monday.
According to the statement, the Tel Aviv
District Prosecution's Taxes and Economics Department is considering
pressing criminal charges against the company as well as the head of its
local office, Fatih Dogan, for failing to meet Israel's Tax Authority
guidelines for foreign companies operating in Israel. The decision is
pending a hearing before the head of the Taxes and Economics Department,
attorney Mina Zamir.
...
The Tel Aviv District
Prosecution believes that between 2006 and 2010 the airline filed false
tax reports in Israel, and that the wages paid to the company's Turkish
employees, which were deposited in their bank accounts in Istanbul, were
higher than the wages declared in Israel for taxation purposes.
This method allegedly allowed Turkish
Airlines' Israeli office to pay its employees "under the table" and
avoid deducting taxes that should have been paid to the Israeli
authorities.
...
A statement by Turkish Airlines, carried by the
financial daily Globes, said that the airline "is in compliance with the
tax laws and regulation of every country it operates in, including
Israel. The company employs the services of Israeli tax advisers and it
relied on their advice, which proved wrong. Once we were alerted to the
situation, the company made sure to pay the missing taxes. Turkish
Airlines will present its case before the [Tel Aviv District]
Prosecution and we are sure that our explanation will fall on
sympathetic ears."
I'll tell you what. You drop all the Mavi Marmara nonsense and restore relations and we'll drop the investigation and let you keep operating in Israel.
You may recall that last week I reported that Turkish Airlines was sponsoring an anti-Israel parlay in Chicago over Thanksgiving weekend.On Thursday evening, I received a letter from the Turkish Airlines representative in Chicago, which I am posting below (I would upload it to ScribD, but they went to the trouble of finding my last name, which I'd rather not post on this blog), so I will cut and paste instead.
Dear Carl,
I am writing in reference to inaccurate claims about Turkish Airlines within an article you wrote titled, “Turkish Airlines Sponsoring Anti-Israel Parlay.” Your claims about Turkish Airlines being a major corporate sponsor of the "Conference for Palestine in the U.S.: A Movement United" taking place in suburban Chicago from November 22-25, 2012 are not true. Presently we have no affiliation with the event. We are not a sponsor in any way shape or form, nor are we donating tickets to the event as was wrongfully stated in your article.
As a global airline, we bring citizens of the world together from all religions, ethnicities and countries without any discrimination. We are involved with many organizations that represent the different, diverse profile of our clients.
In 2011, Turkish Airlines donated two economy class tickets to the "Conference for Palestine in the U.S.: A New Era of Activism," however, this does not represent any kind of political affiliation nor an alliance to a certain political cause but is rather a way of connecting with a certain customer segment that frequently uses our airline. Given the highly political nature of the event, this year, we revised our policy and decided not to be involved at all with the upcoming event. This does not mean that we will cease to support our customers in the Muslim community as they make up an important part of our client mosaic, the same way our Jewish customers do. Turkish Airlines highly values its Jewish clients and customers, the same way we value all of our diverse customers who are loyal to our airline. Israel is one of Turkish Airlines’ most important destinations, second only to Istanbul. We are an ongoing supporter of the Jewish-American community, and Turkish Airlines often works to promote tourism to Israel through various events and advertising campaigns. We work closely with Omer Eshel, Consul, Director of the Midwest Region of the Israel Ministry of Tourism, on joint seminars, to donate tickets to Israeli events, and look forward to our collaboration on seminars and events in the coming year.
Turkish Airlines is proud to be one of the world’s largest airlines connecting 90 countries, more than any in the world. We take pride in providing worldwide service to more than 200 destinations to citizens from all backgrounds and religions, without any discrimination, and value our relationship with all of our clients from cultures around the world. Without our loyal passengers, Turkish Airlines would not have been named “Europe’s Best Airline” two years in a row.
We would appreciate an immediate extraction of your inaccurate claims to ensure that your readers are aware of the truth and our neutral position as it pertains to any conflict pertaining in the region.
With Warm Regards,
Levent Selvili
Turkish Airlines
General Manager, Chicago
Hmmm. Okay - I was surprised to read that Tel Aviv is their second largest destination after Istanbul. But it's been eight years since I last flew Turkish Airways (yes, they were part of OneWorld back then).
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) has announced that they will be
holding a four-day event called the "Conference for Palestine in the US:
A Movement United" in suburban Chicago from November 22-25.
Turkish Airlines is reportedly one of the major corporate sponsors of
the conference, scheduled to take place at the Oak Brook Hills Marriott
Resort. The official state carrier of Turkey will be contributing as
much as $15,000 for the event and, in order to encourage attendance, has
announced that the “first 200 registrants will be entered into a raffle
to win an international airline ticket from Turkish Airlines.”
The online mission statement of American Muslims for Palestine calls for
attention to be brought to "the people of Palestine who have been
living under occupation for decades," adding that, "we believe once
Americans know the truth that their tax dollars support the
longest-lasting and the last military occupation in modern history, they
won’t stand for it and will demand that Congress change our foreign
policy in the Middle East to one that is more balanced."
In an article on September 24, author Michael Rubin of Commentary
Magazine said, "American Muslims for Palestine is not any ordinary
organization. Its home page depicts the conference logo—a map of
Palestine made from birds showing the Palestinian state encompassing all
of Israel. So much for the two-state solution."
"The AMP conference is due to feature Fadwa Barghouti, wife of
imprisoned terrorist Marwan Barghouti, currently serving five life
sentences for murder. For several years, the AMP has worked to promote
nakba (catastrophe) commemorations on college campuses, with a goal to
delegitimize Israel’s existence. The group’s national campus coordinator
moved to disrupt a speech by the Israeli ambassador at UC-Irvine back
in 2010. "
Read the whole thing. Maybe once the election is over, they can announce that Hussein Obama is addressing them too.
This will do wonders for Turkish tourism: Israeli businesspeople detained in Istanbul's Ataturk Airport
40 Israelis arriving on a Turkish Air flight from Tel Aviv were held in an isolated area of Istanbul's Kemal Ataturk Airport for an hour and a half where they were questioned extensively before being released.
The Israelis had their passports taken away and were forced to go into a darkened room and subjected to extensive searches. Israel Radio reports that Israelis arriving on Turkish Air in Tel Aviv reported similar treatment on their outbound flight. The Israelis had their passports confiscated after landing on a Turkish Airlines flight from Tel Aviv on Monday morning. They were questioned for more than an hour and subsequently released.
The Foreign Ministry was investigating the incident and has been in contact with Turkey to find out if it came about as the result of a new directive or if it was a local initiative by airport authorities, a spokesman stated.
The spokesman added that an incident of this nature has never previously been known to occur to Israeli travelers in Turkey.
The Foreign Ministry was also in contact with the Israelis who were detained, in attempts to find out exactly what they were asked by Turkish authorities at the airport.
Israel planned to keep a close eye on additional flights from Israel to Turkey throughout the day to determine if anything out of the ordinary occurs.
Flight 793 departed from Ben Gurion International Airport as planned at 5 a.m. and landed two hours later in Istanbul.
"They asked us why we came here, opened our bags, checked how much money we have and what we have on our laptops," one of the passengers told Ynet.
"I think that the police officers didn't even know what they were looking for," he added. "They apparently got an order to detain us, one by one. Everyone was in shock; we didn't know what they were going to do to us. Obviously this was done intentionally, in order to create an unpleasant feeling."
Authorities in Jerusalem estimate that the detention of the Israeli passengers came in response to a recent incident during which Turkish citizens were detained for questioning by border police at Ben Gurion Airport.
Foreign Ministry officials said that no directive was issued regarding a change in the policy that concerns the reception of Israelis, and that there was no intention to single out Israelis that arrive in Turkey. "It was a mid-rank initiative that apparently came in response to the incident at Ben Gurion Airport," they said.
R' and D', businessmen who were on the flight said the attitude of the police officers at the airport was estranged. "We have been doing business in Turkey for 13 years. They held all Israelis. Whoever doesn’t have to work here shouldn’t come. They spoke rudely and acted improperly. People missed their connections but they didn’t care," he said.
According to the two, "As soon as they saw an Israeli, they told him to move on to questioning. All the Israelis were together and they accumulated the passports in one pile. I have never seen such a thing. I have also never seen them behaving in such disrespect. I don't know what will be the atmosphere on the street. I don't know what to expect. The papers from yesterday are filled with incitement.
"They asked us how long we are planning to stay, gesturing with their hands to stay put. No explanations were given. They gave back our passports after almost two hours," the two added.
The passengers on board described a sense of anxiety and a desire to return home. "This feels like the point of no return. Whatever we have felt until now, it will not be the same anymore."
Hayuta Leibovitz, another passenger on the flight, said, "I really want to go home but I am already here and I have to work. I will return to Israel on Thursday and then I will think about what's next. Will it be the last time that we come here? If that's the situation, we will go to places where we are wanted. Even if my income is generated here and all my production is done in Istanbul, if they don't me here, I'll leave."
And that alleged incident in Tel Aviv? No one is even saying when it happened (and I have to wonder if it happened), but it has suddenly come to light.
Meanwhile, the Turkish news agency "Anatolya" reported that Turkish tourists had encountered similar treatment at Ben-Gurion Airport. One of them said, "When we reached the airport in Tel Aviv on our way back to Turkey, security personnel took me and my friends aside and we waited there for a long time.
"They asked about our personal information, including email addresses, phone numbers, our family status and even the number of children we had. They checked our luggage multiple times after which they conducted a physical search," he added.
According to the passenger, "They asked us to remove all clothing. They checked a Turkish woman in one of the rooms. They only examined Turkish passengers and the search was very hostile. When we reached Antalya, the plane was forced to perform an emergency landing after one of the passengers felt ill following the way we had been treated in Israel."
The group's tour guide Ansar Ogur added, "The treatment for Turks was different. They went through our luggage many times. Because of their search of the cargo, our flight was delayed. Some of the Turkish passengers boarded at the last minute."
Israel Radio interviewed arriving passengers in Tel Aviv who reported similar treatment (it was one of them who made reference to the darkened room and the extensive searches that I noted above).
If you don't have to go to Turkey, don't go there. I won't fly through there on my way to the US or anyplace else (and have not in several years).
Just for the heck of it, I went to the airport website. The afternoon Turkish Air flight from Turkey is listed as 45 minutes late, but is listed as final, which means it did take off. We may have more stories in a couple of hours.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
