Nine Israelis were arrested at the airport in Istanbul on suspicion of harassing and behaving inappropriately toward a Turkish flight attendant during a Pegasus airline flight from Israel to Turkey, Ynet has learned. According to the sister of one of the detainees - Sderot resident David Shushkov, 30, six of the Israelis were released after a few hours of interrogation, but her brother and two others are still imprisoned after nearly a week in a detention center near the border with Syria.
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"There was a flight attendant on the plane who explained all the safety measures that should be taken while on the plane. My brother recorded her on his cell phone and he and eight other passengers laughed at her. At the end of the safety instructions, she approached him and asked to delete the video. My brother gave her the cell phone and she deleted the video and it would be seem that everything calmed down, and on the surface everything was fine, but it really wasn't," Shushkov's sister, Natalie, claimed.
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A Pegasus plane at Ataturk Airport in Turkey; a Pegasus flight attendant accused nine Israelis of harassing her
(Photo: Reuters)
"When the plane landed, everyone waited a long time to get out, because the flight attendant called the police. When they opened the doors, the police put handcuffs on the nine Israeli citizens that the flight attendant pointed out and took them all in for questioning. It turns out that the flight attendant said that the boys sexually harassed her," she said.
She said that the day after the arrest "they held a trial for my brother and he was told that he would be deported from Turkey, but because of the (Eid al-Adha) holiday they could not release him until Monday. In the meantime, they transferred him to a prison located on the border with Syria, a four-hour drive from Istanbul, claiming that they did not have another place to put him."
Shushkov's sister said that the family "waited and expected his flight on Monday, and the deadline arrived and my brother was not flown to Israel as we were told. The consular service told us to wait patiently and not to anger the Turks, but we are at a loss."
Turkey apparently intends to deport the three Israelis who remain in custody in the coming days.
Shushkov's sister told Ynet that "my brother has never quarreled with anyone, he has a good heart. He likes to laugh, and he just acted innocently and took a picture of the flight attendant. He regretted it and asked for forgiveness and let her delete it. It seemed as if she forgave him, and he didn't expect the police to be waiting for him."
"We turned to a lawyer, but he asked for 100,000 shekel to represent us and we cannot afford to pay him - so it turns out that my brother is abandoned because we do not have a lawyer. My mother is not that involved because we fear for her health and do not want to make her upset. But it's so hard for her not to have contact with him and that they haven't spoken for six days."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it is aware of the issue.
First published: 13:27, 07.04.23