48 years since the crime Why did Israel shoot down a Libyan plane and kill 108 of its passengers?

Israel is still trying to put an end to the crime of shooting down the Libyan airliner and killing 108 of its passengers 48 years ago. While it has admitted the crime, it refuses to this day to form a specialized committee to investigate the incident or punish those responsible.

Despite its recognition of the intentional shooting down of the plane and its approval of compensation for the victims, to this day Israel still does not accept the formation of a specialized committee to investigate the incident of the downing of the Libyan Airlines plane “114” in the skies of Egypt, nearly five decades ago.

On February 21, 1973, Israeli "Phantom" fighters fired directly at the Libyan civilian plane, which was on its way from Tripoli International Airport to Cairo Airport, which led to the death of 108 people out of the 113 on board.

At first, Israel refused to acknowledge the incident, "out of fear for its image in front of the world."

The plane "114", which carried Libyan citizens, mostly residents of Benghazi, and a French crew to drive it, was hit by a sandstorm when it reached the middle of the Sinai Peninsula, which was under Israeli occupation at the time, while strong winds and heavy dust forced it to move away from its main flight line. , which caused panic among the Israeli Air Force, which did not give it long enough to open fire, causing irreparable wounds to the families of 108 people.

The Hebrew newspaper, Haaretz , says that "the Israeli Air Force, which discovered the derailment of the Libyan plane at that time, feared that the plane was performing a reconnaissance mission to photograph the camps of the Israeli army, which was occupying at that time the Sinai Peninsula, so it launched two Phantom fighters."

And, quoting military sources, she indicated that "the Israeli fighters tried to warn the captain of the Libyan plane, but he did not respond, suggesting that he feared the warnings in light of the deteriorating relations between Egypt, Israel, Libya and Israel." An attempt to force her to land in one of her camps, then fired immediately after a few minutes, causing her to crash."

Doubting the Israeli narrative

The newspaper says that "the fear in Israel of reaction and retaliation for shooting down the plane has persisted for 40 years after the accident, as it kept the names of the pilots who shot down it confidential, and the security services warned them that the threat of revenge still exists."

The Israeli pilot "H" explains that he lived dozens of years of his life feeling the danger.

At the same time, Shmuel Shafer, commander of the Intelligence Division of the Israeli Air Force, refuses to talk about this issue, adding, "Silence is better in such a situation, why would I talk about this incident? with Egypt.

After the plane was deliberately shot down, Israel tried to justify its action by disavowing the entire incident at one time, and claiming that it was in danger at another time, as the Israeli Air Force Commander at the time, Mordechai Ho said in a press conference days after the accident, that “the plane was passing over a very sensitive area of Military side.

Haaretz newspaper, quoting the American Time magazine, says that "this sensitive area has always been visited by Jews of American origin," clearly casting doubt on these statements.

'Brutal killers'

Former Israeli Air Force officer Eliezer Cohen says that he was the first to arrive at the crash site. Shockingly."

He added, "The co-pilot was still alive, and he survived the crash. He was sitting on the sand and shouting at me: Why did you do this?! You are savages, you brought us down! You are killers, you are killers."

He explains: "The co-pilot assured me that they thought they were over Cairo, and only then did I say to myself: I understood the mistake we made."

Haaretz newspaper says that Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir visited the United States a few days after the incident.

Israel has not yet paid the price

Despite its recognition and payment of compensation to the families of the victims it killed by shooting down the plane, Israel has not convicted any of those who committed that crime to date, nor has it published an official investigation into the incident.

However, the echo of the painful incident did not stop in Libya as well as in Egypt, as the families of the victims sought to prosecute Israel for its crimes, trials that have not reached any result until now.

The Egyptian media, Salwa Hegazy, was one of the victims of the plane that was shot down by the Israeli Air Force, and after her death, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat awarded her the Order of Work of the second degree in 1973, as one of the martyrs of the homeland, while the poet Fouad Haddad wrote a poem in her elegy entitled "Dear Salwa."

The newspaper "Al-Masry Al-Youm" indicates that the family of broadcaster Hegazy sought in 2003 to prosecute Israel for shooting down the Libyan passenger plane that was on board and to obtain compensation.

Radwa Al-Sharif, the daughter of the late Egyptian broadcaster, fought a legal battle to prosecute senior Israeli officials who were involved in the massacre, in coordination with the family of the French pilot who was piloting the plane, to raise a common case before the French judiciary.

Radwa accused then-Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan of being the first official, as he gave the orders to blow up the Libyan plane after the French pilot refused to land in Israel.

Also on the plane was the former Libyan Foreign Minister, Saleh Bouisir, who died instantly.

In 2008, the family of the late minister began judicial procedures to prosecute the government of Israel and demand it disclose the facts related to the downing of the civilian passenger plane, through a lawyer accredited in Tel Aviv, who submitted a memorandum to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Minni Mazuz, the attorney general in the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

However, despite all the efforts, the perpetrators of the crime were not brought to trial and Israel did not agree to punish them, while it seeks to turn this page with all the tragedies it has caused.