32 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
32 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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tags:
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- Organization
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- Private
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- Israel
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- Transportation
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category: "Private Organization"
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summary: "El Al is the Israeli national airline that played a role in the covert arms shipments and financial transactions described by Ari Ben-Menashe in his account of Israeli-American intelligence cooperation."
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start: 1948
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location: "Tel Aviv, Israel"
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updated: 2026-10-15
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---
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El Al is the national airline of [[Israel]]. It played a role in various covert operations and financial transactions detailed by [[Ari Ben-Menashe]].
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In January 1979, El Al was one of the last airlines to operate flights into [[Tehran]] before the airport closed, facilitating the departure of 48 Israeli aircrews who flew out F-14 jets from [[Iran]].[^1]
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In April 1980, El Al was involved in the transport of tires sold to Iran, with a payment of $14,000 made to El Al for freight and insurance. The tires were flown from Israel to [[Vienna]] via El Al, then transferred to [[Iran Air]] by Israeli embassy personnel.[^1]
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In October 1980, El Al was used to transport Israeli personnel from [[Tel Aviv]] to [[Orly Airport]] in [[Paris]] for a top-secret meeting concerning the hostage release and arms deals. Later, electronic equipment acquired through a New York operation was usually flown by the IDF's weekly Boeing 707 flight from [[New York City]] to Tel Aviv, or by El Al cargo, before being transferred to Tehran via Argentinean charters.[^1]
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In April 1986 a bomb was found in the luggage of an Irish woman boarding an El Al flight from [[Heathrow Airport]] to Israel, and the Jordanian citizen [[Nezar Hindawi]] was convicted at the [[Old Bailey]] of attempting to place it aboard the aircraft.[^2][^3] The 2011 High Court judgment records that the device was packed into a bag given to her by Hindawi, that she did not know what it contained, and that the aircraft carried 375 people.[^3] Howe told the House of Commons that the plot had official Syrian involvement, and Reagan credited Heathrow security with preventing the attack.[^4][^5] Ari Ben-Menashe wrote in 1992 that the operation was an Israeli "black" propaganda operation orchestrated by [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]] to discredit [[Syria]], that an Israeli security officer passed the parcel to the girlfriend in the El Al departure lounge, and that Israeli security foiled the plot.[^6]
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In 1988, El Al's first-class lounge at Heathrow Airport was the meeting place for Ari Ben-Menashe and [[David Ivry]], director general of Israel's Ministry of Defense, to discuss the sale of C-130s to Iran.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
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[^2]: Official record on the April 17, 1986 attempt and the October 24, 1986 conviction: [2011] EWHC 830 (QB), April 1, 2011, paras 1, 5 to 6. https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/qb/2011/830
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[^3]: Same judgment, para 5 (bag, timing device, 375 people on board). https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/qb/2011/830
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[^4]: HC Deb 24 October 1986 vol 102 cc1504-14, "Anglo-Syrian Relations," statement by Sir Geoffrey Howe. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1986/oct/24/anglo-syrian-relations
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[^5]: Ronald Reagan, "United Kingdom-Syria Diplomatic Relations," statement, October 24, 1986, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/research/speeches/102486e
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[^6]: Ari Ben-Menashe, *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network* (Sheridan Square Press, 1992; TrineDay, 2015), pp. 121 to 124.
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