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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Terror In Istanbul – 1976 and Today

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Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group are pictured flaunting their weapons in the mountains east of the Jordan River. The PFLP carried out the August 1976 terror attack at the El Al Terminal in the Istanbul airport, killing four people, including 29-year-old Harold W. Rosenthal. Credit: Thomas R. Koeniges via Wikimedia Commons.
On August 11, 1976, terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (the PFLP) attacked the El Al Terminal in the Istanbul airport. Four people were killed and dozens were injured. Two of those wounded were American women. One of those who was killed was Harold W. Rosenthal, age 29, of Philadelphia.
On March 9, 1978, a group of Palestinian terrorists, led by Ms. Dalal Mughrabi landed on a northern Israel beach. There they encountered Gail Rubin, a nature photographer and niece of U.S. Senator Abraham Ribicoff, (pictured above) Democrat of Connecticut. Mughrabi shot Gail point-blank.

Arab terrorists rampaging through a Turkish airport. Carnage everywhere. Innocent travelers gunned down at random. That was the scene in Istanbul this week. It was also the scene in Istanbul forty years ago this summer.

It’s disheartening to think that even after all these decades, there seems to be no end to these kinds of attacks. It’s even more disheartening to realize how little the U.S. government has done in cases —such as the Istanbul attack forty years ago— in which the killers are Palestinians and the victims are Americans.

On August 11, 1976, terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (the PFLP) attacked the El Al Terminal in the Istanbul airport. Four people were killed and dozens were injured. Two of those wounded were American women. One of those who was killed was Harold W. Rosenthal, age 29, of Philadelphia.

Harold had been a member of the staff of several prominent Democrats—

Congressman (later governor) Hugh Carey, of New York and U.S. Senator Walter Mondale, of Minnesota. He was also an aide to U.S. Senator Jacob Javits.

The PFLP, the group that murdered Harold Rosenthal, is the second-largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PLO is headed by Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, which receives $500-million from the United States each year. Yet the Obama administration has never demanded that Abbas expel the PFLP from the PLO.

Rosenthal was not the only terror victim with close ties to Democratic leaders. On March 9, 1978, a group of Palestinian terrorists, led by Ms. Dalal Mughrabi landed on a northern Israel beach. There they encountered Gail Rubin, a nature photographer and niece of U.S. Senator Abraham Ribicoff, Democrat of Connecticut. Mughrabi shot Gail point-blank. The Palestinian Authority has named streets, parks, and sports tournaments in honor of Mughrabi, whom the PA considers a “heroine” and a “martyr.”

Leaders of the Democratic Party are presently discussing the language to include in their party platform, on Israel and other subjects. We believe that platform should address the issue of American victims of Palestinian terrorism.

And we are not alone. In recent days, more than 200 leading rabbis, Jewish scholars, and officials of American Jewish organizations have signed our petition to the Democratic Party. We are proud to note that the signatories represent a broad cross section of American Jewish, including prominent figures from the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform movements and Jewish community activists from across the political spectrum. Justice for American victims of Palestinian terrorism is truly a consensus issue in our community.

Noting the close connection between Harold Rosenthal, Gail Rubin, and leading Democrats, the petition asks the party to take specific steps to address the issue:

— Call on Mahmoud Abbas to transfer suspects in such attacks to the United States for prosecution (140 Americans have been killed by Palestinian terrorists, yet the PA has never handed over the killers to be tried here).

— Urge Palestinian leaders to expel and ostracize factions involved in violence against Americans, such as the PFLP.

— Call for the removal of Dalal Mughrabi’s name from public places and events in Palestinian Authority-controlled regions.

These are modest, practical steps that would help address a grievous injustice. They would also constitute important contributions to the fight against terrorism—because they would send a message to the terrorists and their allies that the United States will neither forgive nor forget, when Americans are murdered and their murderers are sheltered or honored.

And at a time when Istanbul is again the target of terror, it’s more important than ever to make it clear that the earlier Istanbul victims have not been forgotten.

Stephen M. Flatow & Isaac Blachor

(Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. Isaac Blachor is a national vice president of the Religious Zionists of America.)

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