1976 Yeşilköy airport attack

On 11 August 1976, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine carried out a terrorist attack against Yeşilköy Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, killing four people and injuring 20 more.

1976 Yeşilköy airport attack
Part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Location	Yeşilköy Airport, Istanbul, Turkey
Date	11 August 1976 (1976-08-11)
Attack type	grenade attack, mass shooting
Deaths	4
Injured	~20
Victims	Ernest Eliash Yutako Hirano Harold Wallace Rosenthal Shlomo Weisbach
Perpetrators	Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Assailants	Mohamed Mehdi and Mohamed Husain al-Rashid

Incident

The attack occurred as passengers began boarding an El Al Boeing 707^[1] destined for Tel Aviv; the last group was being taken to the plane via an airport bus. The perpetrators threw grenades and fired at the non-boarded passengers with submachine guns. The killers killed two Israeli tourists, Ernest Eliash from Petah Tikva and Shlomo Weisbach from Haifa, a Japanese tour guide, Yutaki Hirano, and Harold Wallace Rosenthal, aide to U.S. Senator Jacob Javits.^[2][3]

Perpetrators

The terrorists surrendered following a shootout with Turkish police. They identified themselves as Mohamed Mehdi and Mohamed Husain al-Rashid from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.^[4][5]

Reactions

R-NY Senator Jacob Javits, whose aide Harold W. Rosenthal was killed in the attack, sponsored Senate Resolution 524, "[Urging] the President to direct United States Ambassadors abroad to seek the consideration by foreign governments of suspension of their air service to any foreign nation aiding or abetting terrorism."^[6][7]