Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile Version | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

El Al Amsterdam Crash 10 years on

Saddam | 06.10.2002 12:50

saw a piece on BBC World on Friday (04 10) but had me sounds on and missed the gist, found an audio video link on the BBC website but it was U/S , one of those stories that "they" don't want to talk about. Does anyone have the very latest on this one ?

It's common knowledge in Holland that the Israelis their own private frieght terminal which is manned by their own (military) security police.

here's a run down on the basix from 1999 story

 http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/stories/5.03/990211-cargo.html

Fearing Secret Weapons Tarnsfers -- Dutch Parliament Investigates Deadly 1992 Crash of El Al Jet

By Yoichi Clark Shimatsu Date: 02-11-99

In a saga that could have been scripted by the X-Files, Dutch
journalists have been investigating the 1992 crash in Amsterdam of an El Al cargo jet on its way from New York to Tel Aviv. Now the Dutch parliament is taking up their charges that the jet carried a secret Israeli military shipment of weapons-grade plutonium and the chemical ingredients for sarin. As many as 2,000 local residents and firemen reported health complaints they believe were caused by the crash. Meanwhile, the El Al cargo jet flights continue to stop over at Schiphol, raising fears that the commercial airport is a hub for secret weapons transfers. PNS associate editor Yoichi Clark Shimatsu is an investigative reporter and former editor of the English-language Japan Times Weekly in Tokyo.

AMSTERDAM -- The Dutch Parliament is just this month holding public hearings to determine vital facts about an October, 1992 airplane accident.

The El Al Boeing 747 crashed into an apartment building in Bijlmeer, a suburb of Amsterdam, killing 39 people on the ground and four aboard the plane. It was carrying a secret cargo that included the main chemical ingredients for the nerve gas sarin as well as depleted uranium (DU). Dutch journalists allege it was carrying weapons-grade plutonium as well. As many as 2,000 local residents and firemen have reported health complaints that they attribute to the crash. Many report loss of hair in the weeks after the crash, a sign
of radiation disease. The hearings at The Hague follow six years of investigation by Dutch journalists Vincent Dekker and Pierre Heyboer with the Volkskrant newspaper. The most
important witnesses will not be present, however -- officials of the Bush administration.

The flight stopped at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport for refueling en route from New York to Tel Aviv. On October 4 last year, the sixth anniversary of the crash, Dutch
transport ministry leaked to a newspaper an El Al bill of landing that shows the plane was carrying 190 liters of dimethy methylphosphonate (DMMP), four liters of isopropanol and an undisclosed amount of hydroflouric acid.

The chemicals were being sent to a super-secret weapons facility, called the Israel Institute of Biological Research (IIBR) south of Tel Aviv.

The Israeli government has claimed that the chemicals were intended for testing gas masks. But most military services use only a few grams for such purposes. The chemicals aboard the El Al jet were enough to produce 270 kilograms of sarin nerve gas -- enough to annihilate the populations of many major cities.

The sarin components came from the Solkatronics chemical plant in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, then owned by Solvay, a chemical corporation based in Brussels Belgium. International transport of such materials is a violation of the Chemical
Weapons Treaty, signed by the U.S.

The El Al jet also carried at least 800 kilograms of depleted uranium (DU), used as ballast to balance the jet's cargo. Burned DU releases uranium dust, which is known to cause lung cancer and other diseases.

Dutch authorities and El Al admit Flight LY1862 carried sarin components and DU, but refuse to provide details on six tons of military cargo. According to airport security personnel, the plane carried seven pallets of unspecified munitions.

Journalist Dekker claims, on the basis of leaks from Dutch officials, that the jet carried 27 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium, enough to make seven warheads the size of the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki in 1945.

In addition, soil samples taken at the crash site have turned up evidence suggesting that nuclear weapons technology was being illegally shipped from the U.S. to Israel.

The El Al jet landed and took off at Schiphol, one of the world's busiest civilian airports, and flew across the most densely populated area of Europe. If 27 kilograms of plutonium had bounced into the burning wreckage, nearly all of Western Europe would have faced a nuclear emergency bigger than the Chernobyl accident.

Dutch and Israeli authorities apparently organized a cover-up. Most documents taken from El Al officials have disappeared. Police audio tapes and 42 videotapes taken by the firefighters were shredded. Firemen claimed that they turned in the cockpit voice recorder, or "black box," but the government denies that it was ever found. Metal parts from the wreckage were recycled and melted down before a proper investigation could begin.

Residents report seeing helicopters, painted black and without markings, landing in their neighborhood. Others tell of a French-speaking team searching the area, and a group of men speaking English, some clad in white chemical protective suits, carrying a heavy box covered with a white cloth.
The Dutch authorities have denied that these events ever happened.

Journalists say Dutch security officials have told them that the Netherlands has allowed Israel to make secret military air shipments through Schiphol since the 1950s. The shipments apparently are outside the Atlantic Alliance military treaties because the aircraft going to Israel are not refueled at NATO air bases but at the commercial airport of Schiphol.

"Schiphol has become a hub for secret weapons transfers because El Al has special status there. Dutch authorities have no jurisdiction over Israeli activities at the airport, said Henk van der Belt, a member of an investigation team set up by Bijlmeer residents.

Every Sunday at sundown, an El Al cargo plane stops at Schiphol, refueling midway on the long journey between New York and Tel Aviv. All Israel-bound cargo is put inside a vacuum chamber in an underground bunker to test it for bombs equipped with altimeter triggers. But the flight does not appear on any airport video monitors -- there is not even an El Al check-in counter. Documents for air freight to Israel are handled inside an unmarked room.

A photo taken just before the 1992 accident showed that the engine of the El Al jet was off-center, indicating it was previously damaged.

Airport workers in Cologne, Germany, where the jet refueled on its way to New York, say the plane collided with an airport ground vehicle there. In other words, the cargo jet loaded with U.S.-made sarin, uranium and plutonium could have crashed in New York but it turned out to be a time-bomb flying to the heart of Europe.

Saddam
- Homepage: http://

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. a little news from Amsterdam — stuart
  2. "israel" at work again — bob
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
13-18th February, London: No Borders Convergence: final details & programme
24th-26th February, near Glasgow: Earth First! Winter Moot
10th-11th March, Somerset: Surround and blockade Hinkley Point nuclear power station
From May 1st, Brighton Smash EDO: Summer of Resistance
9th June for 30 days, Faslane: 30 Days of Action at Faslane Naval Base

Ongoing UK
Every Wednesday, Brighton: noise demos at EDO MBM
Ongoing, Lincs: RAF Waddington Peace Camp. Protesting against Drone Warfare. More info.
Ongoing, London: Occupy London Stock Exchange
Ongoing, London Occupy Finsbury Square
Ongoing, Sheffield Occupy Sheffield
Ongoing, Cardiff Occupy Cardiff
Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Climate Change: Climate Indymedia
United Kollectives
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern England
Nottingham
Scotland
Projects
Indymedia Projects
iMobile Page
Photo Page
Indymedia Cinema
Video Page
Radio Page
Offline Newsheet
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Unencrypted Page
We suggest you use an encrypted connection for browsing this site.
Please install the CAcert root certificate to verify the authenticity of the site, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv

Africa
ambazonia
canarias
estrecho / madiaq
kenya
south africa

Canada
london, ontario
maritimes
ottawa
quebec
victoria

East Asia
japan
qc
saint-petersburg

Europe
abruzzo
alacant
antwerpen
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
bristol
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
euskal herria
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
london
madrid
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
nice
northern england
norway
oost-vlaanderen
paris/île-de-france
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
ukraine
united kingdom

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
melbourne
qc
sydney

South Asia
india

United States
arizona
atlanta
austin
baltimore
big muddy
binghamton
boston
buffalo
charlottesville
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
la
madison
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new mexico
new orleans
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
seattle
united states
urbana-champaign
western mass

West Asia
beirut
palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech