“Make ready for them all that you can of force and of warhorses, so that by them you may strike terror in the enemy of Allah and your enemy…” (Qur’an 8:60)
“A Vueling flight between Barcelona and Tel-Aviv postponed due to terrorist threats,” translated from “Ajornat un vol de Vueling entre Barcelona i Tel-Aviv per amenaces terroristes,” El Nacional, March 21, 2023 (thanks to K.):
The Civil Guard is investigating an incident that left dozens of people on the ground yesterday evening who had to fly between Barcelona and Tel Aviv with Vueling from El Prat Airport. The flight was scheduled for twelve at night, but at the time of boarding the passengers received threatening messages on their mobile devices. Taking advantage of Apple’s AirDrop technology, which allows messages to be sent between iPhone terminals, a person, who has not yet been identified, sent messages that made claims of a terrorist nature. For safety reasons, although the messages did not say there was a bomb on the aircraft, all passengers were evacuated and the aircraft was inspected with specialist GEDEX explosive disposal officers from the Civil Guard and guide dogs. The threats turned out to be, according to ElNacional.cat, a false alarm. However, the flight was delayed and could not leave until this morning, at seven in the morning. The flight that was scheduled for tonight was supposed to arrive at four in the morning in the Israeli city and now, if everything goes according to plan, it will arrive at half past one.
Although it is being treated as a false alarm incident, an investigation has been opened by the Civil Guard, responsible for the air zone of El Prat airport, in order to find out who the person was who sent these messages that generated fear and alarm, and at the same time, also forced the postponement of the flight that had to cover the route between Catalonia and Israel. Because of the plane’s destination, a hot zone for Islamic terrorism, the plane’s command, when it became aware of this information, alerted airport security services, who activated the local alert with the Civil Guard. For its part, Vueling did not want to give explanations about the events of this past night in Barcelona. Israeli intelligence deployed in the state, the Mossad, has also opened an investigation.
It is not a new method. In flights, one can take advantage of the fact that there is no Wi-Fi internet network to send messages using this method, which allows you to send photos with text to other users who have an iPhone and who have not restricted the reception of these messages. Some may be harmless, and others, as in the case of tonight at El Prat airport, may cause a terrorist alert. The author of the messages, if he ends up being identified by the Civil Guard, can be accused, among others, of a crime of public disorder.
It should be remembered that Catalonia, like the rest of the State, is at level 4 out of 5 in the anti-terrorist threat alert. The Mossos d’Esquadra and the other police who work in the Catalan area reinforce preventive controls and also investigations into threats of this type to be able to deal with the fight against global Islamist terrorism.
