October 7th, 1985. The Italian cruise ship, ‘Achille Lauro’, carrying passengers from all over the world, is hijacked off the coast of Egypt by a Palestinian commando. It was the beginning of a three-day ordeal culminating in the murder of an American hostage and an armed standoff between two NATO allies to capture his killers. An event that catalysed US policy towards counter-terrorism and the Arab-Israeli conflict. For the first time, this film brings together the main protagonists to reveal what really happened.
“There were some officers shouting that there’s people on the boat with guns”, recalls crew member Michelle Gillen. The hijackers were four armed men of the PLF, an armed wing of Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation. “Our main objective was to free Palestine.” explains hijacker Abdallateef Fataier. They demand the liberation of 50 Palestinians in Israeli prisons and force the ship’s captain to navigate towards the Syrian port of Tartus. America deploys special forces in the Mediterranean for an armed intervention but the Italian government opts for a diplomatic solution and put pressure on PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
After days of negotiations the Palestinians agree to release the passengers in exchange for safe passage to Tunis and the men are taken into custody by the Egyptians. It’s only at this point that the news that a passenger had been murder becomes public. The victim is Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American passenger confined to a wheelchair. The murder had been kept secret by the ship’s captain, apparently to avoid a massacre.
News of the killing triggers an international uproar and President Reagan demands the hijackers be handed over to be tried in the US. Egypt maintains the hijackers have left the country, but Israeli intelligence indicates they’re still there. The plane on which they planned to escape, accompanied by Abbas, is located, and President Reagan orders its interception. US fighter jets blockade the EgyptAir plane and force it to land at a NATO base in Sicily. After a tense armed standoff between US and Italian forces lasting over five hours, the Italian government insists on its jurisdiction and arrests the hijackers. The Americans want to extradite Abbas, but the Italians secretly put him on a flight to Yugoslavia, allowing him to escape. It’s the worst diplomatic and military crisis between the two NATO countries since the second world war.
Yasser Arafat and Abu Abbas initially deny any murder, until Klinghoffer’s body washes up on the Syrian shores. Abbas will continue to downplay ‘one man’s death’ as compared to the plight of the Palestinians, but the murder of Leon Klinghoffer will haunt him for the rest of his life. In 1986 the four hijackers are tried in Genoa, Italy, along with 11 accomplices. Nine, including mastermind Abbas, were tried in absentia.