UPDATED: IAF jets were scrambled Wednesday to intercept a Continental passenger plane after it lost communications with air controllers at Ben Gurion Airport.

The plane was arriving in Israel from the US when it lost radio contact. Following anti-terror procedures, two Israeli warplanes intercepted the plane and guided it back over the Mediterranean Sea until communications were restored.

When it was determined that there were no problems on board and the pilot was in control, the plane was given the green light to land.

INN reports: Israel Radio quoted an unnamed IAF officer who said the pilots treated the incident as a terror attack in progress and came the closest they ever had to shooting down a civilian airliner.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, as well as senior IDF brass, were made aware of the incident in real time in case the decision to shoot down the plane had become necessary.