Uri Bar-Lev (; born July 19, 1931) is a retired Israeli airline pilot. He has been claimed to be the only pilot to have successfully thwarted an in-flight hijacking. Bar-Lev was born on a

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

in what is now Israel. As a teenager, he served as a soldier during the war for Israeli independence and later became a pilot in the Israeli Air Force. His last military flight was in the 1956

Sinai War The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

, after which he became a pilot for Israel’s national airline

El Al EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. (), trading as EL AL (, "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ) is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve ...

El Al Flight 219

On September 6, 1970, Bar-Lev was the pilot of El Al Flight 219 from

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

via

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. He was made aware that four suspicious people were trying to board the plane. Bar-Lev insisted that two of the suspects not be allowed to board, and the two others be questioned. He also asked that the air-marshal be seated with him in the cockpit during the flight. Once the hijackers,

Patrick Argüello Patricio José Argüello Ryan (March 30, 1943 – September 6, 1970), commonly referred to simply as Patrick Argüello, was a Nicaraguan-American Marxist–Leninist militant. He was a member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), a ...

and

Leila Khaled Leila Khaled ( ; born April 9, 1944) is a Palestinian former militant and activist who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). She is famous as being the first woman to hijack an airplane. Khaled gained her pr ...

, threatened the crew and passengers, Bar-Lev took control of the flight and threw the plane into a dive. This lowered the plane’s altitude making any explosion or damage less dangerous and knocked the hijackers to the ground. The air marshal killed Arguello and Khaled was arrested after passing out as a result of the dramatic shift in air pressure. Flight 219 was the fifth flight hijacked in that one week of September 1970. Israeli air command told Bar-Lev to fly the plane to Tel Aviv, but he was concerned for the welfare of an injured flight attendant, and the two air marshals, and instead brought the plane to London. Bar-Lev and the crew were detained for hours, questioned by the British police. He was later sanctioned for this decision as well as the decision to have the air marshal fly in the cockpit with him. Bar-Lev and the crew were celebrated by the

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CoP; commonly Presidents' Conference) is the umbrella organization for the American Jewish community. Comprising 53 national Jewish organizations across the political spectrum, ...

in December 1970.

Retirement and later life

In 1974, Bar-Lev retired as a pilot. He lives in Israel with his wife, Yona. Bar-Lev was instrumental in cancelling a 2020

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

event with Leila Khaled, one of the 1970 hijackers, arguing that it crossed a line between free speech and inciting terrorism.

References

1931 births Living people Commercial aviators Israeli military aviators Dawson's Field hijackings Moshavniks 1948 Arab–Israeli War pilots Israeli people of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War People of the Suez Crisis {{DEFAULTSORT:Bar-Lev, Uri