We Can 'Defuse' Them

When young Caleb Leibowitz and his sister boarded US Airways flight to Louisville, KY, he didn't have time to say his morning prayers before he boarded his flight, so after take off he pulled out his Tefillin ( 2 small black boxes with black straps attached to them; Jewish men are required to place one box on their head and tie the other one on their arm each weekday morning.), and began to pray. That is when the trouble began.

A US Airways crew panicked by a Jewish teen's prayer ritual aborted a flight from LaGuardia Airport on Thursday, landing in Philadelphia amid unfounded fears of a terrorist bomb.

The trouble began when the 17-year-old White Plains youth pulled out two small Scripture-filled boxes used for his morning prayers on the Louisville, Ky.-bound plane, authorities said.

The frightened boy and his sister, headed for a four-day visit with their grandmother, were instead greeted in the City of Brotherly Love by bomb-sniffing dogs, police and the FBI.

The teen's grandmother said the 7:25 a.m. flight didn't allow time for him to pray before leaving New York.

"He hadn't had the opportunity to pray, so that is why he did it on the plane," said Frances Winchell.

The leather boxes, joined by a strap and known as tefillin, are placed on the head and the left arm. The straps apparently were mistaken for wires running from a box, authorities said.

The flight attendant, unaware of the religious ritual, notified the pilot of a potential problem when the teen put one of the boxes on his head.

Read more here.

I do hope that the Leibowitz family will take US Airways to court over this.  The flight crew over reacted on this. A young JEWISH man wrapping Tefillin around his head and arm, placing a prayer shawl over his shoulders, and praying is not going to harm your flight.

Just like this ad for El Al claims:

(IsraelNN.com) The ad agency for Israel's national carrier, El Al Airlines, has raced to take advantage of an incident one week ago in which a Jewish teen was taken off a U.S. domestic flight after he began to don a pair of tefillin, or phylacteries.

"Fly with us! Our cabin crew will know how to "defuse" them..." the advertisement for El Al Airlines jocularly proclaims in English, with a full-color photo of the tefillin against a mild blue sky.

The tefillin, a set of small leather boxes that are black in color and contain scrolls of parchment inscribed with Bible verses, worn by Jewish men during weekday morning prayers, apparently ignited suspicions among the cabin crew and passengers on the small domestic U.S. Airways flight that the boy was a would-be suicide bomber.

The plane changed its flight plan and immediately diverted to Philadelphia, where police escorted the 17-year-old “suspect” off the aircraft, which parked in a remote section of the tarmac at Philadelphia International Airport.

It is not really clear whether the “ad” is, in fact, a legitimate ad; AgencySpy editor Matt Van Hoven writes on the Media Bistro creative website that even he has been unable to track down the whereabouts of the elusive “real” advertising agency for El Al Airlines.

“Though this feels fake, it remains awesome,” Van Hoven comments. “Can someone please tell us the origin of this advertisement... If it's really from El Al, it proves the long-standing belief that the Jewish faith is the source of all things awesome in the world, most notably, humor.”

If this is a fake ad, it is well done.  But I have a sneaky suspicion that this is an in house joke.  Either way it brings home the same message:

"We understand security better than you!"

How Israeli Security Works

Hat tip to Israel Matzav

Every one knows that the Israeli National Airline, El Al (Hebrew for To The Skies) has had a perfect security record for the last 30 years.  With a combination of psychology, racial profiling, and armed guards on every flight,  passengers who board an El Al flight can travel without any fear of violence aboard their flight.  No passenger boarding an El Al flight at Ben Gurion Airport has to remove their shoes or belt, liquids are permitted, as is toothpaste, and hand lotion.

On flights into Israel one can use the bathroom until the pilot prepares to land, or read a book, work on your lap top, snuggle under a blanket, or even put some thing in your carry on bag.  How refreshing to see an airline being proactive not reactive.



In the US most security personal are not hired because they actually have experience in security.  They get hired because they have a good credit score.  Forget about a background check.  Murderers, Rapists, Thieves, Pedophiles, Wife Beaters have all been found to be working as airport security personal.  Many without a High School Diploma, let alone a College Degree in Psychology, many cannot speak English, and most have no military experience. So much for protecting the traveling public.  (Israel only hires people who have a very good knowledge of Psychology, who have a clean criminal record, speak at least 2 languages fluently, and have served in the military {preferable an elite unit}.)

Why is it that the US cannot deliver to the flying public 1 ounce of the security that Israel does?  Why is it that the statistics show that since 1965 90% of airline hijackers were Muslim men between the ages of 18 and 50, we still do not play to the percentages and PROFILE those individuals.  Instead we cower to to the voices of Political Correctness.  It is Political Correctness that will bring down an airplane, not the Muslim terrorist who actually does the deed.

Almost 3,000 people died on 9/11 due to Political Correctness.  How many more have to die before we wise up to the reality of Islamic Terrorism?

There's Nothing Like El Al

On September 28, El Al (Israel's National Airline) celebrated its 60th birthday. In honor of this I give you some memorable moments from the Airline's history.

The company's maiden flight took place on September 28, 1948… to pick up the first president of the State of Israel Chaim Weizmann from Geneva and bring him to Israel. Few know that the original El Al insignia blazoned on the company's first uniforms wasn't a Star of David; it was a flying camel - a mascot of early Jewish aviators.

Some of El Al's perks are industry firsts. The most outstanding one to date was inaugurated in 2002 on behalf of a wealthy New York couple who visit Israel at least four times a year, each time bringing their two cats with them. The airline decided to allow small dogs, cats and birds who indeed had tickets - $89 one-way from New York, Chicago or Miami and $98 from Los Angeles - to collect frequent flyer miles and gain a free trip along with their owners.

Nice to know especially for those people who use guide dogs. Or for the Paris Hilton types who have to have those stupid little dogs with them at all times.

Once upon a time, cynics said "El Al" stood for "Every Landing Always Late." But in the early 1990s, El Al found itself plagued by a chronic case of corporate jet lag due to passengers' last-minute duty-free shopping sprees before boarding. At one point, fed up with having to hunt down bargain-hunters, an El Al plane took off on time - leaving seven tardy passengers in the lurch. When questioned by the press, a company official explained: "It's out of the question that every morning, on almost all flights, we act as if we were a taxi outside the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station - yelling 'Paris, Paris, Who is going to Paris?' before taxiing away."

I can say that before this incident I was on the only plane that actually took off on time, but came in early. We think the pilot fainted.

Speaking of Paris - in 1990, on one El Al plane bound for the French capital, an asthmatic passenger found he had forgotten his medicines in a Tel Aviv hotel room. While there were emergency medical supplies on board, according to news reports, after consultation with El Al's doctors, the pilot was instructed to fly at 31,000 rather than 43,000 feet - despite the additional fuel consumed at lower altitudes - in order to maintain optimal conditions for the passenger.

One case of "special handling" involved some very special hand-baggage: In a race against time, an American Red Cross representative collected 572 blood samples from Jews of Lithuanian lineage at blood banks in Carmiel near Haifa and the Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv. Packing the contents in an insulated picnic box, the American sped to catch a 2 a.m. El Al flight back to the US - in the hopes of finding a match for a 20-year-old woman badly in need of a bone marrow transplant.

One of the most unforgettable humanitarian gestures to which El Al was a part took place on Flight 316 from Tel Aviv to London: Among the passengers was Moran Kadosh, 4, on her way to London for a liver transplant. The child was accompanied by a doctor and her parents - who had a mere $4,500 in their pockets to finance surgery. When the child's plight became known to fellow passengers and El Al flight employees, they organized a spontaneous collection at 35,000 feet. The captain announced over the public address system that Moran's life was in danger. By the time the jumbo landed at Heathrow, 400 passengers and crew had gathered the $60,000 needed to pay for the transplant.

With American carriers the people would just have to suffer. Compassion is uncommon and the service is just as bad.

In terms of conventional cargo, in 1987 El Al was flying high, grabbing ninth place among trans-Atlantic cargo carriers.

And they would transport almost anything.

In September 1970, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine skyjacked four airplanes. Few know there was a fifth target - an El Al flight, where the midair attempt was foiled by the pilot, who plunged the aircraft into a 14,000-foot nosedive, throwing the two armed terrorists for a loop, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the pair, including a traveler purported to have clobbered the male assailant over the head with a whiskey bottle before the air marshal took over.

It is too bad that pilot wasn't on any of the 4 flights on 9/11. This should be taught to every pilot in the world. And a waste of good whiskey.

While efforts to go the extra mile may raise questions whether any air carrier can hold a candle to El Al, the ultimate case of going out of the way for passengers was Operation Solomon: the historic June 1990 airlift of 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 24 hours, using IDF and El Al planes. El Al made aviation history… and The Guinness Book of World Records, for transporting 6,500 passengers in 10 aircraft.

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After 60 years, and countless miles they still fly high. With pilots trained by the IAF, and a flight crew ready for all emergencies, they are a formidable yet comforting crew.