Israeli Bangkok Embassy hostage crisis

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.

Israeli Bangkok embassy hostage crisis

The attack site
LocationBangkok, Thailand
DateDecember 28, 1972
TargetIsraeli embassy
Attack type
Hostage taking
PerpetratorsBlack September

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. Rehavam Amir, the Israeli ambassador, and his wife Avital were attending a ceremony at the royal palace, thus they were not among the hostages and could therefore participate in the negotiations with the militants.[1]

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

After 19 hours of negotiation, an agreement, subsequently dubbed the "Bangkok solution", was worked out and no-one was injured.[2]

Feeling that the Thai nation's celebration of the investiture of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn should not be marred by a dispute that did not concern them, the Thai government guaranteed the terrorists safe travel to Cairo[3] 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.[4]

References
  1. Klein, Aaron. Striking Back. Random House, 2005, p. 135
  2. Israeli Embassy in Bangkok Held by Arabs 19 Hours – 6 Hostages Then Freed as Thais Give 4 Guerrillas a Flight to Cairo NO INJURIES SUFFERED Black September Unit Had Threatened...
  3. The Telegraph
  4. Transnational Terrorism: a chronology of events by Edward F. Mickolaus Westport, Conn; Greenwood Press, 1980 p.367

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