A passenger flying from Seattle to Tel Aviv discovered a handwritten note containing an anti-Israel slur inside her checked luggage after a recent trip. The note, written in all capital letters, read "F*** Israel."
Noa Sabar Dvoskin, a 48-year-old Los Angeles resident, found the message while unpacking her suitcase on Monday. She had traveled the previous weekend with her three children on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Los Angeles, where she connected to an El Al flight bound for Tel Aviv.
Dvoskin, who moved to Israel two years ago and was visiting Seattle with her family, expressed feelings of fear and disgust upon finding the note. She stated that she did not want her children, aged between 9 and 16, to see the message. "I never thought about this kind of thing happening on an airline," she told JNS.
Alaska Airlines, which has a codeshare agreement with El Al, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dvoskin reported the incident to Alaska Airlines, Los Angeles International Airport, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. embassy in Israel. The U.S.-based StopAntisemitism NGO raised concerns about potential security risks, questioning, "What if the next time the same person puts an explosive in a suitcase when the opportunity arises?"
This incident follows a similar event six months prior. An El Al flight from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv was delayed after ground staff found "Free Palestine" stickers on airport equipment. Amid security concerns about potential tampering with luggage, the flight ultimately departed without passengers' baggage. Law enforcement reviewed security footage and terminated the employment of a third-party contractor responsible for the incident.