The coffins containing the two Israelis killed in the Istanbul terrorist attack did not arrive yesterday as scheduled. Preparations to receive the bodies of Ernest Eliasch of Petach Tikva and Shlomo Weisbach of Haifa had been completed at Ben Gurion Airport, but El Al’s Captain Hagai Kafri, navigating the plane which was to transport the coffins, reported shortly after takeoff from Istanbul that at the last minute the Turks had not brought the coffins to the airport.
Apparently, Turkish officials told Israeli diplomats in Istanbul that there have been new developments and they needed to further examine the bodies. The Turkish authorities apologized to the families and said they would transport the coffins tomorrow.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
