Israeli security services are facing a major re-organization with the aim of protecting Israeli diplomats and other citizens in foreign countries and Israeli installations abroad, it was learned today. The move is being taken on the assumption that Arab terrorists will step up their attacks on Israeli personnel and property overseas since they have been effectively thwarted from operating inside Israel.
The new plan is expected to require additional manpower, money and equipment. It may include briefings to all Israeli citizens going abroad on how to conduct themselves. It was learned today that El Al fired its security officer who permitted two girls to board a plane with a booby-trapped phonograph that exploded shortly after the aircraft took off from Rome last month. Only the heavy shielding in the baggage compartment saved the plane from destruction.
El Al said the security officer in question passed the package without conducting a proper examination. He is the second El Al security man to be dismissed. The previous one was fired because he had hesitated to attack Leila Khaled when she and a companion tried to hijack an El Al jet over Britain in Sept. 1970.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
