The Times Online is running a report under the ominous headline:
How Israeli fighter pilots threatened to blast Tony Blair’s jet out of sky
Only when you read the report do you see that the Israeli pilots made no such threat. Rather, they flew above Blair’s aircraft to indicate to the pilot that he was considered a suspect target (since the pilot did not respond to urgent requests from Israeli air traffic controllers to establish contact), after which point he made contact.
Sounds like a standard maneuver.
I won’t write this on down as clear anti-Israel bias since the article itself does seem to paint the incident as the fault of Tony Blair’s pilot, and makes specific mention of the fact Israel has been on high alert. It might just be sensationalist. However, it does provide some good anti-Israel fodder to those who will not look past the headline, such as the Fark wit who came up with this line for the story:
Tony Blair comes within seconds of being U.S.S. Liberty’d by the Israeli Air Force. Oy vey
