Liri Albag detained for an hour at New York airport due to outdated system warning
JFK’s computers still had ex-hostage listed as captive, causing worry she was an imposter
Freed hostage Liri Albag was detained for questioning after landing at New York’s Kennedy International Airport on Sunday for a family vacation, due to an outdated warning on the airport’s computers that registered her as still in captivity.
“It appeared in their system that she was still captive, they hadn’t updated their computers,” her father, Eli Albag, told Hebrew media. “They were afraid someone [else] was entering the US using her name.”
“Liri isn’t stressed,” the father said. “It wasn’t pleasant — but it’s over.”
According to Ynet, several Israeli officials worked quickly behind the scenes to resolve the problem, concerned that it would cause the freed hostage mental distress.
It was only after those officials intervened, the report said, that Albag and her family were let go, after about an hour, and allowed to enter the United States.
“We’ve arrived at our hotel, and everything’s okay. It’s behind us,” her father said, according to Channel 12.
Albag was serving as a surveillance soldier on the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists overran the Nahal Oz military base, where she was stationed, and kidnapped her.
She was released by Hamas in February along with Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Agam Berger, who were kidnapped alongside her, as part of a hostage-ceasefire deal that has since collapsed.
Berger was released five days after her comrades, having spent 477 days in the terror group’s captivity.
The five women were among seven female troops abducted from the surveillance unit during the massacre, which saw thousands of terrorists burst across the border, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Another of the abducted surveillance soldiers, Ori Megidish, was rescued alive, and Noa Marciano’s body was recovered after she was murdered in captivity.
Like many freed hostages, Albag has described the appalling conditions in which she was held captive.
The Times of Israel Community.