Passengers at an Israel airport are left frightened by dumb Americans

An American family caused a panic at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport Thursday when they showed up with an unexploded artillery shell they found while in the Golan Heights, in the country’s north.

Videos circulating online showed frightened passengers inside the airport running for safety and screaming.
Authorities sounded an alert and at least one person was injured trying to run on a conveyor belt.


Other videos show passengers on the floor in an attempt to secure cover.
The shell was removed and the family was released after being questioned. There was no explosion.
The family said they found the shell in the Golan Heights and intended to bring it back as a souvenir.
Authorities are still investigating the incident.


Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war, and the area saw heavy fighting during that war and another Arab-Israeli war six years later. Areas known to contain unexploded munitions are clearly marked and fenced off.
Israel annexed the strategic plateau in 1981 and today it is a major tourist draw, with wineries, popular hiking spots and a small ski resort with a short season.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced plans to boost Israeli settlement in the territory in December.
The Trump administration broke with decades of American policy to recognise Israel’s claim to the Golan, making the United States the only country to do so.
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Israel says it needs the Golan, which has soaring views over Lebanon and Syria, for its security. Syria has long insisted the entire territory be returned to it in any peace deal.

Israel’s Airport erupts in panic after American family shows up with artillery shell | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

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the Golan, which has soaring views over Lebanon and Syria

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And soaring views over Haifa if I remember correctly.

I am amazed at how stupid some people can be.
We had a similar experience at JFK in NYC when my wife was traveling to Thailand with Turkish airline a few years ago. .
It was several weeks after they had that major terrorist incident at the airport in Turkey and everyone was a bit paranoid.
Anyway , I left the wife there she went through the check in and I got in the car and started heading for home. not a couple minutes away from the airport I got a frantic out of breath call from my wife screaming for me to come and get her, In the background I could hear people screaming , allarms ,and her phone went dead.
You can Imagine my state of mind.
It was night, and I made a Uturn in the highway driving over the grass divider and in my rear view mirror I could see a sea of red emergency vehicles heading for the airport minutes behind me. If I had not made the Uturn when I did I would never had made it back to the airport.
when back I parked and tried to find what had happened when the wife finally got back to me and much to my relief said she was Ok. Everyone was herded out of the airport with their hands in the air. it was a surreal image.
The airport was shut down and wife's flight was delayed until next day , Wife was not able to board that flight because in the scramble to run had lost her handbag, with her passport and her jacket. She was not the only one. Next day we went back to the airport to look for her stuff, and there was a pile of discarded stuff.
Long story short , she found her stuff, and a week later she was calm enough to get on another flight.
Turkish airlines was very accomodating.
Here is the Kicker.
As it turned out, on the lounge there were a bunch of people watching a qualifying soccer game for the world cup, and when the Columbian team won some idiot celebrated by lighting firecrackers in the airport.!!