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Home » In-Flight Electronics Ban » Is Electronics Ban an Attempt by Israel to Undermine Gulf Carriers?
EL ALIn-Flight Electronics Ban

Is Electronics Ban an Attempt by Israel to Undermine Gulf Carriers?

Matthew Klint Posted onMay 17, 2017 14 Comments

El Al Electronics Ban

I’m just going to come out and say I put little very little stock in this Al-Jazeera news piece (for reasons I will defend), but the innuendo is too enticing not to explore.

The New York Times reports that intelligence behind the March in-flight electronics ban came from Israel. It further reports that the discussion now underway to expand the ban to flights to the USA originating in Europe also comes from Israeli-gatehered intel. Intelligence reportedly revealed ISIS has been experimenting with technology that can discreetly place bombs in laptop computers.

As a result, the U.S. government banned all large electronic devices from eight nations, including:

  • Egypt
  • Kuwait
  • Jordan
  • Morocco
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Turkey
  • United Arab Emirates

All are Muslim-majority nations.

Now comes the Al-Jazeera report. Quoting a former CIA operative named John Kiriakou, it questions the intelligence itself, wondering how Israel would have obtained it.

Then comes the hammer—

I won’t be surprised if it turned out that Israel acted in its own interests to disrupt the Middle Eastern airlines business by throwing its own wrench into the whole thing.

Al-Jazeera is a Qatar-based news agency that seeks to be neutral in its reporting, but like all new agencies its bias sometimes seeps out.

Motive?

We must examine motive. Are we to believe that Israel is really passing along intelligence in order to harm Gulf carriers? Just to be vindictive?

I am highly skeptical because I see no rational reason behind such a motive. Surely this cannot be about protecting Israeli flag carrier El-Al. Naturally, Gulf carriers serve all the cities El-Al does (outside of Israel). But El-Al is also one of the most unique airlines in the world. It has a fiercely loyal following (as we saw at the Freddies) and a totally different business model than the Gulf Carriers. It caters to passengers traveling to/from Israel rather than modeling Tel Aviv as a global transit hub like Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Furthermore, its pricing and onboard service standards are not analogous to Gulf carriers.

In other words, El-Al doesn’t truly compete with the Gulf carriers. Al-Jazeera should have mentioned this.

Would Israel undermine Gulf carriers to help its European and American allies? Ask yourself this: why would Israel squander “political capital” to do this? To what end?

You can see I have many more questions than answers. But I think the answer is clear: whatever Israel’s motive in sharing intelligence about ISIS, it was not to undermine Gulf competition.

CONCLUSION

I argued that whether deliberate or not, the in-flight electronics ban represented U.S. protectionism. I stand by that assertion. But the idea that Israel’s motive is the same strikes me as highly unlikely.

Top image courtesy Adrian Pingstone / Wikimedia Commons

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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14 Comments

  1. mowogo Reply
    May 17, 2017 at 12:33 pm

    Israel would do it not to protect El Al, but actually to tighten the screws further on the countries that refuse to admit they exist. Low oil prices have hurt the countries of the gulf carriers, and the carriers have been their strategy to try and diversify their business into tourism. The electronics ban has led to a significant drop in passengers traveling to or from the US, which is hurting the bottom line of the gulf carriers. Convoluted for business yes, but not for international relations where countries try to cause pain for rivals all the time.

    • Mark Reply
      May 17, 2017 at 12:59 pm

      You’re reaching, especially when they’re working on other trade agreements which would require passengers to go between countries that currently do not fly to/from/through TLV.

    • Fred Reply
      May 18, 2017 at 11:29 am

      Totally agree with mowogo

  2. Ari Reply
    May 17, 2017 at 12:49 pm

    It’s a real shame you’re even quoting them. It’s a poor anti-Semitic propoganda, blaming anything and everything on the Jews/Israel. That’s how they work. Don’t play their game and don’t give them a stage to spread their ignorance and hate.

    • Mark Reply
      May 17, 2017 at 1:00 pm

      He did it for Clickbait

      • Matthew Reply
        May 17, 2017 at 1:02 pm

        I wrote about it because I was shocked to read it, particularly coming from the mouth of a former CIA analyst.

        • Mak Reply
          May 17, 2017 at 3:12 pm

          The source is not exactly a CIA operative but rather an ex-CIA employee who plead guilty to disclosing a secret CIA operative and was sentenced to 30 months in Federal prison for having done so. Now he is a muck raking quasi journalist. Therefore not a reliable source in any way shape or form but rather a guy with a big axe to grind. But even if he wasn’t, what would a guy who hasn’t even worked in the CIA in any capacity for a half-dozen years know about what is happening inside the CIA in 2017? Nothing.

  3. Mak Reply
    May 17, 2017 at 1:05 pm

    That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard and one would need to buy into Arab anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish conspiracies running the world to give it a second thought. Israel happens to have reasonably good relations with UAE and Qatar (and Oman) and its rediculous to think that this is related to any foreign relations goal of Israel or commercial interest of El Al which is a private company.

  4. Ben Reply
    May 17, 2017 at 2:07 pm

    I agree with Mak’s comments. Also, El Al was privatized not too long ago so I don’t see the incentive for the Israelis to pass along false or misleading information to help a private company who does not compete with the ME3 airlines.

  5. Nate Reply
    May 17, 2017 at 10:27 pm

    I’ve flown on El Al Airlines; one can complain all that they want to about various aspects of their service. However, one thing remains clear, not only about El Al, but also about Israeli airport security. The fact of the matter is that they have the best security in the world. Even the actor Wesley Snipes, when he starred in the movie “Passenger 57” stated “Nobody messes with El Al” except that he used a much stronger term that “messes”. Every El Al plane has at least four armed guards; the pilots have their own toilet facilities, so they never have to leave the cabin, which is protected by two bulletproof, steel reinforced doors. There is even armor plating in the luggage compartment, in case a bomb inadvertently slips through the screening. Last, every El Al plane has an anti-aircraft missile defense system, in case someone fires a missile at an El Al plane. In 1970, two armed hijackers managed to board an El Al flight in Amsterdam. A gunfight ensued on the flight, and one of the terrorists was shot dead. His accomplice (Leila Khaled) was arrested by Scotland Yard, after the plane made an emergency landing in at Heathrow Airport, in the UK.

    In addition to the security on the planes, every El Al ticket counter in the world has armed security, which has been used against attackers. When I traveled out of Ben-Gurion Airport, in Israel, I went through some very sophisticated screening machines, which I’ve never seen in the USA. Also, I didn’t have to take my shoes off, or go through the stupid procedures, which the TSA makes us go through. In Israel, every traveler is profiled. In fact, the authorities know about every traveler even before they get to the airport. Incidentally, at Ben Gurion Airport, one cannot just drive to the airport to discharge passengers. There are barriers and road blocks in place, and everybody is questioned, and cars are searched.

    Regarding the argument about the ban on laptops and electronic equipment being banned, the public has very short memories. In December, 1988, some terrorists managed to smuggle a small plastic explosive onto a Pan AMflight (103), from Malta to Frankfurt, with a connection to London and to JFK. The explosive was hidden in an electronics device. If Pan American Airlines had screened the checked in luggage, they might have detected the bomb. However, mandatory screening of all checked in luggage was not required in 1988; in spite of threats to aviation from terrorists back then, Pan Am was too stingy to employ additional screening personnel to check all of the luggage. It should be noted that since 1968, El Al has been checking everything that gets checked into their aircraft.

    Regarding the Al Jazeera article, one should consider the source. Al Jazeera, is one of the most biased media outlet, that I’ve observed on cable news. Thankfully, my cable provider now longer covers the trash that they publish.

    Last, regarding El Al, and flights to and from Israel, it still annoys me how the FAA attempted to interrupt flights to Israel, during the Summer of 2014. At that time, a stray rocket fired from Gaza, allegedly landed a mile from Ben-Gurion Airport. The FAA, decided to ban all American carriers from flying into Israel. As a result, many European carriers did the same. However, the FAA was silent when there was an attack at the Karachi, Pakistan Airport only a few weeks earlier, where dozens of civilians were killed by terrorists. The FAA at that time did not ban any American carriers from flying to Pakistan, nor did it ban any American carriers from flying to Afghanistan, or over Iraq. It just goes to show everyone, the bias and hatred which still exists vis-a-vis Israel, and El Al. Incidentally, the ban lasted 2-3 days; it was political in nature, and hopefully won’t ever be repeated.

  6. Maz Reply
    May 18, 2017 at 10:48 am

    Very disappointed to see you sharing and further spreading outrageous anti-Semitic and anti-Israel clickbait headers. When the very source is Al-Jazeera you should’ve moved on immediately. I really enjoy reading your blog, however this article was very inappropriate and should be retracted and full apology issued.

    • Matthew Reply
      May 18, 2017 at 11:03 am

      Sorry you feel that way, but my point is not to give validity to any anti-Semitic viewpoint but to ridicule it, as I did in this story.

  7. Jake Reply
    May 18, 2017 at 12:40 pm

    I agree with Matthews analysis and the decision to post this.
    It show just how hateful and/or moronic people like John Kiriakou are.
    In my opinion with a brain like his the only operation he was capable of doing at the CIA was cleaning the latrines.

  8. Ricardo Reply
    May 18, 2017 at 1:07 pm

    Aaah yes, the ever present accusation of a “Jewish Conspiracy.” Al Jazeera (and other Arab “news agencies”) are hardly an impartial source of news. Remember when they said Israel and “The Jews” were behind 9/11? Unfortunately, I have to agree partially with Maz, as the headline seems could be interpreted as you giving some validity to the accusation.
    Actually, Israel, “under the table” has a relatively cordial relationship with most Gulf States, which cannot be made public because it might bring on the wrath of Islamists.

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