Bangkok Israeli embassy hostage crisis

{{Short description|1972 Palestinian militant attack in Thailand}}

{{Infobox terrorist attack

|title = Israeli Bangkok embassy hostage crisis

|location = Bangkok, Thailand

|date = {{start date|1972|12|28|df=y}}

|map=

150px

7px

The attack site

|coordinates =

|image =

|caption =

|target = Israeli embassy

|time =

|timezone =

|type = Hostage taking

|fatalities =

|injuries =

|perps =Black September

}}

The Israeli Bangkok embassy hostage crisis occurred on 28 December 1972. It was a raid by a squad of four Palestinian militants, belonging to the Black September organization, on the Israeli embassy building in Bangkok in which the militants held six Israeli embassy staff hostage. After 19 hours of negotiations, the hijackers agreed to abandon the embassy in exchange for being flown to Egypt. The raid was one of a number of attacks that have been conducted against Israeli embassies and diplomats.

Attack

The attack began when two Black September operatives infiltrated a party being held at the embassy. Once these two were inside, two others climbed over the wall with automatic weapons and together the four took over the embassy. They allowed all the Thais to leave but kept six Israelis hostage, including Shimon Avimor, Israeli Ambassador to Cambodia who was visiting.{{cite book |last1=Reeve |first1=Simon |title=One Day in September: The Full Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli Revenge Operation "Wrath of God" |date=2000 |publisher=Arcade |isbn=978-1-55970-547-9 |pages=169–170 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcAsBHZ4DLwC&pg=PA169 |language=en}} Rehavam Amir, the Israeli ambassador, and his wife Avital were attending the investiture ceremony of Vajiralongkorn as Crown Prince of Thailand at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, thus they were not among the hostages and could therefore participate in the negotiations with the militants. Ambassador Amir and Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn were informed about the siege during a break in the middle of the ceremony.Klein, Aaron. Striking Back. Random House, 2005, p. 135

The militants moved their hostages to the second floor of the three-storey building and made their demands.{{cn|date=July 2019}} The militants demanded that 36 prisoners be released from Israeli prisons, including Kōzō Okamoto and the survivors of the Sabena Flight 571 incident.{{cn|date=July 2019}} They threatened to blow up the embassy if these demands were not met by 08:00 on 29 December.{{cn|date=July 2019}}

Two Thai government members, Dawee Chullasapya and Chatichai Choonhavan, who was then deputy foreign minister and became prime minister in 1988, along with the Egyptian ambassador to Thailand, Mustapha el Assawy, negotiated the release of the hostages and instead offered themselves and a number of other Thai officials as surety for the terrorists' safe conduct to Cairo.{{Citation |title=King Bhumibol Adulyadej: A Life's Work |publisher=Editions Didier Millet |year=2012 |page=126}}

After 19 hours of negotiation, an agreement, subsequently dubbed the "Bangkok solution", was worked out and no-one was injured.{{cite news |last1=Whitney |first1=Craig R. |title=Israeli Embassy in Bangkok Held by Arabs 19 Hours |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/29/archives/israeli-embassy-in-bangkok-held-by-arabs-19-hours-6-hostages-then.html |access-date=13 June 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=29 December 1972 |page=1}}

Feeling that the Thai nation's celebration of the investiture of the heir to the throne should not be marred by a dispute that did not concern them, the Thai government guaranteed the terrorists safe travel to Cairo{{cite news |last1=O'Loughlin |first1=Peter |title=Arab Terrorists Flown to Cairo After Releasing Six Hostages |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lpwrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EfwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5920,5000323 |access-date=13 June 2022 |work=The Telegraph |date=29 December 1972 |page=24}} while leaving the hostages in the care of the Thais.

The Black September leadership was reportedly upset with the behavior of its operatives in settling the incident.{{cite book |last1=Klein |first1=Aaron J. |title=Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response |date=2007 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-58836-586-6 |page=137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ZGmfMwR0QgC&pg=PA137 |language=en |quote=In Beirut, Ali Hassan Salameh was enraged by the operation's failure.}}Transnational Terrorism: a chronology of events by Edward F. Mickolaus Westport, Conn; Greenwood Press, 1980 p.367

Then-Israeli prime minister Golda Meir praised the Thai government for their diplomacy which made for a bloodless end of the crisis.

References

External links

[http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=197212280001 Incident summary on START database]
[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8LlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uF8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3485,2611367 Arab Gunmen Free 6 Held In Bangkok] St. Petersburg Times, 29 December 1972
[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lpwrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EfwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5920,5000323 Arab Terrorists Flown To Cairo After Releasing Six Hostages] The Daily Telegraph, 30 December 1972
[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fHkyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XrcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1097,7556729 Bangkok Terrorists Given Heroes Welcome In Cairo]{{DL|date=March 2016}} Palm Beach Post, 30 December 1972