Tony Blair 'moments from death' after Israeli fighter jets threatened to blow his plane out of the sky
Tony Blair visiting the city of Bethlehem, yesterday
Tony Blair was moments from death after two Israeli fighter jets threatened to shoot his plane out of the sky.
The former Prime Minister was on board a private plane on Monday taking him to a Middle East conference when the war jets were scrambled.
It was only after the two warplanes had taken up an attack position that his aircrew radioed to explain who they were and who was aboard.
The intercepting aircraft then peeled off and returned to base.
The former Prime Minister, who has served for 11 months as special Middle East envoy, was en route to Israel from a World Economic Forum meeting at Sharm el-Sheikh in neighbouring Egypt yesterday morning.
"They were unaware of it while they were on the plane," Ruti Winterstein, spokeswoman for Mr Blair's office in Israel, said.
"They didn't hear about it until afterwards, from the media." Israel has one of the most stringent air defence systems in the world and warplanes are often scrambled for false alarms.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the military would not comment but another security source said the manoeuvre was standard procedure in such circumstances.
Israeli forces have been on high alert for threats from the Sinai region since the Palestinian militant group Hamas knocked down a wall on the Egyptian border five months ago, and enjoyed free access in and out of the besieged Gaza Strip for a week.
An Israeli F-16 fighter jet, similar to the aircraft scrambled in Monday's incident
Early investigations into the drama suggested a technical malfunction was to blame for the breakdown in communication, the Israeli newspaper Maariv said.
It added that new systems had been set up in recent months to identify suspicious aircraft. Israeli fighters have been scrambled on several occasions to intercept potential attackers.
The conference, which was in Bethlehem, aimed to attract up to £1billion to boost the Palestinian economy. Mr Blair represents the Quartet, comprised of the US, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
More than 2,000 delegates and would-be investors attended the conference, which some welcomed as a first step towards creating a viable Palestinian state.
