Oded Abarbanel

Oded Abarbanel was born in 1926

Oded Abarbanel was born in Tel Aviv in 1926 to Miriam and Zeev Abarbanel. His paternal grandfather Moshe Abarbanel was among the founders of the Eden cinema. His maternal grandfather Moritz Schoenberg designed and built the clock tower in Jaffa.

He grew up in Tel Aviv and studied at the Herzliya Gymnasium. As a teenager he began learning gliding at the Aero Club of the Land of Israel.

He served as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force. In 1950 he saved a paratrooper who was caught on the tail of his plane during a jump exercise, and he received the Medal of Distinguished Service.

After leaving the army he joined El Al and became a captain. On July 23, 1968, three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked his Boeing 707 flight from Rome to Tel Aviv and forced it to Algeria. The 38 passengers and 10 crew members were held for 39 days, and he and his crew were later honored for their conduct.

He worked at El Al until his retirement. In his last years he lived in a retirement home in Moshav Nordia, where he died in 2022 and was buried.