06 July 2023; MEMO: A father and his two sons were arrested on Tuesday at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen International Airport after attempting to stop a plane from taking off by jumping on the tarmac and getting onto the luggage cart.
Footage shared online shows two of the men jumping out of the airport sleeve after the aircraft doors shut and aggressively pushing security staff away to head towards the plane, in an effort to stop it departing without them. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israelis had missed their flight.
They were immediately detained by security officers and taken to a police station, from which they were later transferred to the provincial migration management directorate and deported.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the incident was known and handled by the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. "A father and his two sons were arrested after trespassing into the airfield when the family missed their flight back to Israel," the ministry's statement read.
It added, "The three were arrested, taken to the police station, and are awaiting legal proceedings."
This comes a week after nine Israelis were arrested at the same airport after they harassed a female cabin crew member on a Pegasus Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul.
According to the sister of one of the detained men, he and his friends filmed the attendant and were laughing at her as she delivered the pre-flight safety demonstration.
