Israel’s president, on a visit to Vienna, got an air force escort due to a security threat. Two military jets were scrambled to accompany Moshe Katsav’s helicopter Thursday after Austrian radar operators spotted an unidentified plane on a collision course with it. But the plane’s pilot turned out to be innocent of any wrongdoing, and no one was hurt. The incident happened as Katsav — the first Israeli head of state to visit Austria — was en route to the site of the former Mauthausen concentration camp, where 100,000 people, mostly Jews, were killed during World War II. In a ceremony at the camp, Katsav and Austrian President Heinz Fischer laid memorial wreaths, offered prayers and observed a minute of silence.
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.