Israelis Threaten To Destroy Tony Blair’s Plane

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23rd May, 2008

BBC: ISRAEL ALMOST SHOOTS DOWN BLAIR’S PLANE

AN AIR MISS … NEAR MISS FOR PEACE?

A real news story or sensationalism? Anyone’s guess.

As reported in today’s Times:

“Tony Blair came within moments of being killed when two Israeli fighter aircraft threatened to shoot down a private jet taking him to a Middle East conference in the belief that it might have been staging a terrorist attack.”

Mr Blair was en route to Israel from a World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting at Sharm el Sheikh, in Egypt, on Wednesday morning when the warplanes were scrambled to intercept the jet, according to a report in the Times. Whether it was Monday or Wednesday is not important.

Can you imagine the headlines?!

Without help from any terrorist group this would have been an own goal of spectacular resonance! Even the usual suspects, the liberal intelligentsia, (once they had stopped celebrating), might have pause for thought.

If the worst had happened what would THIS have done for the cause of peace or for the perpetrators of terror? The Israeli airforce, or the Blair plane’s technology and/or aircrew, getting it so wrong that they end up killing the peacemaker their enemies accuse of being in Israel’s pocket?

Foreign Policy Passport says:

“Israel should probably get the kinks worked out before the next time a former head of state flies through. Blowing up the international community’s envoy to the Middle East might make negotiations a little awkward.”

[Pics:The Israeli aircraft used to intercept Mr Blair’s plane would have been versions of the F15 or F16, armed with Shafrir and Python air-to-air missiles. Both missiles have proved to be devastatingly effective and versatile. The Shafrir 2 missile shot down nearly 100 aircraft in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.]

According to The Telegraph:

“It was only after the two warplanes had taken up an attack position to the rear of Mr Blair’s jet that his aircrew used the radio to explain who they were and who they had on board.

Mr Blair, who has served for eleven months as international envoy for Palestinian development, was en route to Israel from a World Economic Forum meeting at Sharm el Sheikh in neighbouring Egypt early on Wednesday.”

And Reuters says:

“As a guard against possible attacks, Israel requires all planes entering its airspace to provide an identification code and the source said it was standard procedure to intercept those who failed to do so.”

This comment on the story at ABC News is from an interesting angle, clearly anti-Israel:

“They tried to scare Carter off, now Blair. The Israeli war mongers are no different from any other war monger, with the exception of having better military propaganda.”

It’s much more likely that there was a malfunction in the airforce’s alert system than that there was an intention to put Blair off his task by a “manufactured” incident.

The aircraft was an executive private jet carrying delegates including Blair from Sinai, Egypt where they had attended the World Economic Forum to Bethlehem on Wednesday when the aircraft entered Israeli airspace and failed to respond to multiple demands from ATC to identify itself, it emerged yesterday. Amid terrorism fears, the Israeli Air Force scrambled two fighters as is standard procedure for unresponsive aircraft. These then maneuvered themselves above and behind the aircraft, which is an aggresive position considered optimal should a shootdown be required.

The fighters were then able to make direct contact with Tony Blair’s flight, which then identified itself and informed the fighter pilots of who was on board. It later turned out the aircraft had suffered a technical fault that had prevented them hearing ATC’s request for identificatio

You might have thought that the Israeli airforce would have been informed that Mr Blair was on his way into their air space, after the end of the high powered and well publicised get-together in Egypt.

A risky business, all this peace-making stuff. Come on home, Mr Blair. It’s safer here. More or less.

On second thoughts, today there’s the fallout from yesterday’s Crewe & Nantwich by-election.

RESULT (2:30am): Conservative gain from Labour, reversing the 7,000 Labour majority.

Question: Is Cameron hoping to do a Blair ‘grand coalition’ of Middle Britain?

Answer: Is Cameron Blair?

The Spectator asks, not in rhetorical mode – “Will Labour dump Brown?”

Plane to catch, anyone?

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