In his capacity as Interior Minister, Shas party leader Aryeh Deri prevented senior PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) official Abed Khalil al-Latif Jatt from leaving Israel via Ben-Gurion International Airport. His passport was flagged in the computer and he was prevented from passing through border control. The eastern Jerusalem resident was heading to an undisclosed Arab country.

The Interior Ministry decision surrounds fears that he was leaving the country to advance connections with terrorists in other countries.

One of the attacks attributed to the PFLP is the 2001 assassination of Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze’evi HY”D, who was shot dead a point-blank range in a Jerusalem hotel.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)