[VIDEO LINK BELOW]
Dear YWN,
After hearing the outrageous news on Thursday, about a 17-year-old wearing Tefillin – who was deemed suspicious enough to prompt an emergency landing, and security alert, I have decided to send you the following story with the attached video link (which I personally recorded).
This past Wednesday, I was on a flight from San Fransisco heading to New York. Just before take-off, a man walked onto the plane carrying a metal box with wires coming out of it.
“Do you mind if I put this here?” he asked me, as he stowed a big knapsack in the overhead compartment. “That depends,” I answered. “Is it going to blow up?” He said, “It’s a charger,” and slid into the window seat.
The man appeared to be Muslim and the flight ended in Istanbul (after stopping in NY) – and it appeared that was his destination.
He had what looked like a padded CD case around his neck with wires hanging out of it and a metal flask of some kind also strapped to him. He put the metal box into the seat pocket in front of him. I didn’t know what to do (so I just davened…HARD!).
The flight attendants seemed oblivious. I tried to tell a TSA guy when I got off the plane – just in case this was a dry run for something unthinkable, but he ignored me.
And the funny thing was, when I went through security in San Fransisco, I noticed the TSA folks patting down a little old lady…
That’s right. Little old ladies and 17-year olds wearing Tefillin are a threat to our national security, but Muslim men with gear strapped onto them, holding a metal box with wires…they’re just fine…G-d bless America.
YWN VIDEO LINK: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/video_viewer.php?clip=IPZ5QjfJ3M8&player=y
(Name Witheld Upon Request)
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19 Responses
First of all, why did you wait until you got OFF the plane? Weren’t you afraid he might do something while you were on the plane to N.Y.? I would have alerted everyone until someone paid attention and checked this guy out! Anyway, now that you have this tape and presumably know the seat number he was in (since it was near yours)and flight number, why don’t you give the tape to the authorities and show them what was allowed on the plane? Also tell them that nobody seemed to care. Maybe this was a dry run, as you said. Maybe they can track this guy down. Don’t just report it on YWN.
By the way, yes, little old ladies and 17 year olds should be checked too. EVERYONE SHOULD BE CHECKED.
You should have gotten off the flight, or at least threatened to do so. They would have had to pull your luggage off the plane as a safety precaution. That would have created awareness and maybe they would have done something about this guy.
If you weren’t willing to substantiate (or legitimize) your safety concern with an action, then why would they take you seriously?
2, You are SO wrong!! If 17 yo jewish kids blow themselves up or 90 yo grandmothers then yes but otherwise keep the checking to the ones who do the crimes such as the yishmaelim yemach sh’mom v’zichrom!
It’s also possible that he WAS checked and the items were medical equipment that he needed for whatever condition he has.
I know several people who carry ID cards that identify them as having medical conditions that require them to carry items that would not necessarily
Should have said “carry items that would not ordinarily have been allowed.”
I totally agree with your point, but just to be practical about your sit. could it be it was some sort of medical device and the flight crew knew about it in advance?
This is too stupid. A sleeping Muslim man listening to music from his i pod or something who was polite enough to ask if you mind where he puts his carry on is not automatically a terrorist.
Some people have no common sense at all. So everyone else has to suffer?
“After hearing the outrageous news on Thursday, about a 17-year-old wearing Tefillin…”
What about this news was outrageous? Boruch Ha-Shem they were concerned about this boy putting on tefillin!
Think sensibly for a minute: Tefillin is an unusual, rarely seen thing for the goyim.
Of course they would be concerned if they weren’t familiar with it. I hope that anything at all that is remotely suspicious, lefi daatam, would prompt a response.
Also – You don’t think that they didn’t check and x-ray these items at security?
please don’t say silly things. this is classic xenophobia! you’re just doing the same thing that they did to the jew!
first of all, the fact is that the vast majority of wires arent’ employed in bombs, the vast majority of people flying on planes aren’t going to blow it up, the vast majority of passengers are checked for explosives, and the vast number of muslims are not terrorists!
Maybe the TSA is part of the terrorist conspiracy
Some people here seem to be missing the point.
If the person was simply listening to an IPOD and was no terrorist, fine.
But then the same idea should have been applied to the Tephillin.
For those who ask if people think the “apparant” Muslim was checked we can also ask wasn’t the Jew with Tephillin also checked?
This article is not about singling out those who look islamic, it is about why religious Jews are obviously singled out.
EVERYONE IS FORGETTING THE FACT THAT IT WASN’T A TSA EMPLOYEE WHO RAISED THE ALARM ABOUT THE JEWISH BOY, IT WAS A PASSENGER.
SO, WHY DIDN’T YOU SPEAK-UP–COWARD!
If it was metal don’t you think it went through an xray machine. Didn’t this guy go through security?
Once again the system worked!
gevaldik, x-says don’t pass through metal. If it would, it wouldn’t be of any help.
hanavon, the vast majority of mouths are not chewing. The vast majority of gum are not being chewed. So, if I see gum in your mouth, it’s obvious that you’re not chewing.
haleivi,
with all due respect, that statement was completely devoid of any logic at all! it’s almost as if it were sounds escaping your body.
this muslim fellow was not a terrorist, the fact that some ultra orthodox jew, who’s terrified of all muslims decided to post this, and worse, to compare it to the case of the jewish boy on the airplane, is outrageous!
in the case of the frum jewish boy on the airplane, he was going to KENTUCKY! this is right in the buckle of the bible belt, and it is not our bible. they’ve never seen a jew before, let alone teffilin! all they see is a man with a head covering, putting on some kind of device, being really really careful with it, and some kind of black straps hanging all over the place that look like wires! he should have known better.
now, the case of the xenophobe who wrote this article, this person has a complete dearth of understanding of all things involved.
first of all, it was a flight coming from istanbul, through new york, then on to san fran. istanbul is in turkey, which is part of europe. they have regulations, interpol has a list of known and suspected terrorists, they have metal detectors in the airports, and they do make people open up their carry ons if they are suspicious. also, turkey never supports terrorism, and turks are very rarely involved in anything like that.
knowing all of that, this becomes a simple issue, obviously the person who wrote this article had no knowledge of the system, and only her blind hatred and fear of anyone who is slightly different than us.
hanavon you must be a doctor of logic. How did you determine that Halevi is ULTRA ORTHODOX which in turn, makes her terrified of all muslims? Part of your great mind must have also brought you to the conclusion that this comparisson is outrageous I fail to see as how in your geography lesson, you failed to note that the flight originated in NY and only the destination was Kentucky, as you so smartly reffered to it as the bible belt. You must feel that using a word like xenophobe lends you some semblance of intelligence. It must be difficult to go through life with a shoe size that is greater than your IQ. You certainly should change your screen name, for if there was any time when a name did not fit this is it.