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Suspect Arrested in Venezuela for 1994 Panama Flight Bombing That Killed 21, Including 12 Jewish Passengers
The wreckage of Alas Chiricanas Flight 901 after it exploded midair in 1994, killing all 21 passengers and crew on board. Photo: Screenshot
Interpol has confirmed the arrest in Venezuela of a suspect linked to the 1994 bombing of a Panamanian commercial flight that killed 21 people — including 12 members of the country’s Jewish community — marking a major development more than three decades after one of Latin America’s deadliest terror attacks.
On Saturday, the Interpol National Central Bureau in Panama said in a statement that it “received confirmation” from its counterparts in Venezuela of the arrest of Ali Hage Zaki Jalil — a Venezuelan citizen of Lebanese descent — on Margarita Island in the northeastern state of Nueva Esparta, in a joint operation with the international police organization Interpol and local and national authorities.
In 1994, Alas Chiricanas Flight 901, a domestic passenger plane traveling a short 30–40 minute route from Colón on Panama’s Caribbean coast to the capital, Panama City, was destroyed by a midair explosion, killing all 21 passengers and crew on board.
At the time, local authorities determined that a suicide bomber had triggered explosives concealed within a portable radio.
Jalil allegedly managed logistics and transportation for the terrorists responsible for the attack, according to officials.
Panama’s government investigation found that the bomber was Hamas operative Ali Jamal, who had boarded the flight carrying a suitcase packed with explosives.
The terrorist attack occurred just one day after the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed and more than 300 wounded — the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history.
International intelligence agencies have long suspected that the two attacks were part of a Hezbollah-led wave of coordinated violence in the early 1990s targeting Jewish and Israeli interests across Latin America.
The Lebanese terrorist group has long operated within Latin America to finance illicit activities, particularly in countries like Venezuela and Colombia, as well as in the Tri-Border Area — where Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil meet and organized crime has long thrived.
Iran serves as Hezbollah’s chief international backer and also maintains close ties with Venezuela.
In 1995, a classified Panamanian intelligence report identified “operational similarities” between the Panama and Buenos Aires bombings, citing the use of suicide attackers, identical explosives, and links to Lebanese nationals operating in Venezuela and Paraguay.
The investigation into Flight 901 stalled for years due to political instability and lack of international cooperation, only to be reopened in 2017 when new forensic and intelligence evidence connected suspects in Venezuela and Lebanon to the attack.
In 2024, the US State Department offered a $5 million reward for information leading to those responsible for the terrorist attack, as well as additional rewards for tips on Hezbollah’s financial networks in Latin America.
In coordination with Israeli and American intelligence services, Panama’s government gradually traced leads to Jalil, who reportedly spent years living under multiple aliases in the country.
According to local officials, Jalil had spent years on Margarita Island hiding under false identities, shielded by networks sympathetic to Hezbollah-linked organizations.
Panama has formally requested Jalil’s extradition, and Venezuela’s Interior Ministry confirmed that he will remain in custody while the process moves forward.
If extradited and convicted, Jalil is expected to face charges of premeditated murder and crimes against state security, carrying a potential life sentence under Panamanian law.
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Tucker’s Ideas About Jews Come from Darkest Corners of the Internet, Says Huckabee After Combative Interview
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a combative interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson made a host of contentious and often demonstrably false claims that quickly went viral online. Huckabee, who repeatedly challenged the former Fox News star during the interview, subsequently made a long post on X, identifying a pattern of bad-faith arguments, distortions and conspiracies in Carlson’s rhetorical style.
Huckabee pointed out his words were not accorded by Carlson the same degree of attention and curiosity the anchor evinced toward such unsavory characters as “the little Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes or the guy who thought Hitler was the good guy and Churchill the bad guy.”
“What I wasn’t anticipating was a lengthy series of questions where he seemed to be insinuating that the Jews of today aren’t really same people as the Jews of the Bible,” Huckabee wrote, adding that Tucker’s obsession with conspiracies regarding the provenance of Ashkenazi Jews obscured the fact that most Israeli Jews were refugees from the Arab and Muslim world.
The idea that Ashkenazi Jews are an Asiatic tribe who invented a false ancestry “gained traction in the 80’s and 90’s with David Duke and other Klansmen and neo-Nazis,” Huckabee wrote. “It has really caught fire in recent years on the Internet and social media, mostly from some of the most overt antisemites and Jew haters you can find.”
Carlson branded Israel “probably the most violent country on earth” and cited the false claim that Israel President Isaac Herzog had visited the infamous island of the late, disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson said, citing a debunked claim made by The Times reporter Gabrielle Weiniger. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”
Another misleading claim made by Carlson was that there were more Christians in Qatar than in Israel.
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Pezeshkian Says Iran Will Not Bow to Pressure Amid US Nuclear Talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country would not bow its head to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the United States.
“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads… but we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by state TV.
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Italy’s RAI Apologizes after Latest Gaffe Targets Israeli Bobsleigh Team
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Bobsleigh – 4-man Heat 1 – Cortina Sliding Centre, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – February 21, 2026. Adam Edelman of Israel, Menachem Chen of Israel, Uri Zisman of Israel, Omer Katz of Israel in action during Heat 1. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Italy’s state broadcaster RAI was forced to apologize to the Jewish community on Saturday after an off‑air remark advising its producers to “avoid” the Israeli crew was broadcast before coverage of the Four-Man bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.
The head of RAI’s sports division had already resigned earlier in the week after his error-ridden commentary at the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony two weeks ago triggered a revolt among its journalists.
On Saturday, viewers heard “Let’s avoid crew number 21, which is the Israeli one” and then “no, because …” before the sound was cut off.
RAI CEO Giampaolo Rossi said the incident represented a “serious” breach of the principles of impartiality, respect and inclusion that should guide the public broadcaster.
He added that RAI had opened an internal inquiry to swiftly determine any responsibility and any potential disciplinary procedures.
In a separate statement RAI’s board of directors condemned the remark as “unacceptable.”
The board apologized to the Jewish community, the athletes involved and all viewers who felt offended.
RAI is the country’s largest media organization and operates national television, radio and digital news services.
The union representing RAI journalists, Usigrai, had said Paolo Petrecca’s opening ceremony commentary had dealt “a serious blow” to the company’s credibility.
His missteps included misidentifying venues and public figures, and making comments about national teams that were widely criticized.