In the sum­mer of 1970, when David Raab was sev­en­teen years old, he and his fam­i­ly trav­eled to Israel for the first time. When he board­ed the plane at Lod (now Ben Guri­on) Air­port, his life would change for­ev­er and take on a new mean­ing, as he was one of the 143 pas­sen­gers whose air­plane was hijacked by a group known as the Pop­u­lar Front for the Lib­er­a­tion of Pales­tine (PFLP).

Ter­ror in Black Sep­tem­ber is the riv­et­ing sto­ry of what hap­pened dur­ing the hijack­ing. Raab presents prac­ti­cal­ly a blow by blow account of the facts of this hor­ri­fy­ing ordeal, includ­ing details of the con­flict that pre­cip­i­tat­ed the hijack­ing. He doc­u­ments the events he describes by date, exact time, and location.

These glimpses into Mr. Raab’s mem­o­ries add up to a stun­ning account of an ear­ly encounter with terrorism.