A JetBlue Jihadist? The Great Press Cover-up
by Chris Farrell • October 23, 2021 at 5:00 am
If we are trying to ascertain motive in a situation like this, shouting "Allah" would seem to be a key detail. That potentially moves the incident from "disturbed passenger freaks out over failed phone connection" to "jihadist tries to commit suicide attack." It does not prove the latter case of course, but it does make it part of the conversation.
However, you would have to go to the FBI affidavit to get that detail. The Washington Post write up of the incident, clearly based on the affidavit, went so far as noting that El Dahr "yelled in Spanish and Arabic" but omitted that he was shouting about Allah -- despite the obvious news value in that detail.
Granted there could be a variety of reasons why El Dahr was invoking his supreme being. But there is only one reason for not reporting it -- deliberately to obscure a possible tie to Islamic radicalism.
If a radical Islamist hijacked an airplane, we might never know it was an act of terrorism. That is, if we rely only on the mainstream media.
Case in point: On September 22, Khalil El Dahr, a passenger on JetBlue Flight 261 from Boston to Puerto Rico, suddenly rushed to the front of the aircraft, choked and kicked a flight attendant, tried to break into the flight deck, and urged crew members to shoot him. It took a half-dozen flight attendants to restrain El Dahr, tying him down with flex cuffs, seat belt extenders and a necktie. On landing in Puerto Rico, El Dahr was arrested and charged with interference with flight crew members and attendants, a federal crime.
