Yonasan David

During their return flight on September 6, 1970, their plane was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

During a press conference held on the airfield next to the hijacked planes, journalists were invited to interview several hostages, including David.

[6] The hijacked airplanes were subsequently detonated, and the remaining 40-plus Jewish men – including Hutner, David, and two students accompanying Hutner, Rabbi Meir Fund and Rabbi Yaakov Drillman – and male flight crew continued to be held hostage, first in a refugee camp and then in safe houses in and around Amman, Jordan.

Israeli Knesset Member Rabbi Menachem Porush chartered a private plane to meet them in Nicosia, and reported that the men looked emaciated.

On September 28, Hutner, David, their wives and students were flown back to New York via Europe, and were home in time for the first night of Rosh Hashana.

Rabbi Yonasan David during the 1970s.