The El Al Flight 253 attack was a terrorist attack perpetrated by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) against a Boeing 707 passenger plane while it was on the ground at a stopover in Athens en route from Tel Aviv, Israel, to New York City, United States in 1968.

[1] The incident came five months after a group of self-styled Palestinian Arab commandos hijacked El Al Flight 426 on July 23, shortly after it took-off from Rome for Tel Aviv and forced it to fly to Algiers.

The two dashed out of the airport transit lounge just as the Israeli plane, parked 200 yards (180 m) away, was preparing to take off.

[4] Both confessed they were members of a Palestinian organization and had planned to destroy the jet and kill all Israeli passengers aboard.

[4] Two days after the attack, Israel raided the Beirut International Airport, destroying 12 (or possibly 13) Lebanese passenger airplanes.