The passenger
Haredi man causes disturbance on flight over 'immodest movie'
Beit Shemesh resident arrested after forcing TV screens closed on El Al flight from Warsaw to Tel Aviv, and attacking other passengers who protested.
Police arrested a Beit Shemesh resident earlier this week after he caused a disturbance on an El Al flight from Warsaw to Tel Aviv because a movie being screened on the plane was "immodest" in his opinion.
The 36-year-old ultra-Orthodox man informed flight attendants that he refuses to watch the film, and forcefully pushed the screen away, causing damage. He also attacked passengers who commented on his behavior.
Police officers who arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport arrested him after he deplaned and took him in for questioning.
The Beit Shemesh man
"There were some passengers on the plane who decided not to watch TV on the plane," one of the passengers recounted. "There was one who forcefully pushed the screen (coming down from the plane's ceiling - ed.) and really broke it. I think he must've thought all of the other screens will also close, but that didn't happen. At this point, a ruckus broke out and people started yelling at him. He claimed this was 'secular coercion' and would not calm down. He was really upset and later jumped on another passenger who told him off."
This behavior persisted throughout the flight and close to landing time, when the screens came down again, the Beit Shemesh man "yelled on the plane that he could not stand it that movies are being watched. He said these were immodest films."
Another passenger said the Beit Shemesh man boarded the plane late with a group of other passengers, and that is why the airline could not seat them away from the screens.
"Their behavior is just rude. They were late and made exaggerated demands," he said. "The El Al flight attendants behaved in an exemplary manner. They remained level-headed, calmed things down, and called the police, as procedures dictate."
A third passenger said that "A group of ultra-Orthodox passengers came on the plane with a lot of 15 year olds. At first they caused a disturbance over the seating arrangements - they would not sit next to women. They didn't exactly have places to sit that matched their wishes, and they were arguing until the last moment. They would not sit next to a woman under any circumstance."
She went on to say that "the flight attendant told them that the plane won't move until everyone is seated. After a lot of arguments, seats were found for them."
The Beit Shemesh man, she said, "started pushing all of the screens back up, people were shocked. I already saw what movie was being screened and I asked, 'Why are you closing them?' and he said, 'God is the Almighty, and he will preserve us.' Nothing we tried helped and he closed everyone's TVs, using a toothpick to keep the screens locked in. A fight almost broke out there."
This isn't the first time Israeli passengers caused disturbances on flights. An Israeli man was caught smoking in the bathroom stall of an Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to New York, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in Canada. He swore at the flight attendants and demanded to be served alcohol. Two strong passengers had to restrain him and cuff him. The passenger told investigators that he took a sleeping pill and drank several glasses of wine and that he could not remember what had happened.
A year ago, an Israeli woman on an Israir flight to Varna verbally attacked one of the flight attendants during an argument over her desire to purchase duty free chocolate while the flight attendant was busy with another passenger. Two of the passenger's relatives also joined the argument, swearing at the flight attendant, with one of them threatening to hit the flight attendant.
El Al said in response to the Warsaw-Tel Aviv flight incident that "El Al will not accept violent behavior of any kind during its flights, and that is why police was called."
