Man arrested for making gesture with plastic knife on airliner

Associated Press WriterNEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A Chicago man flying from Israel was arrested Wednesday after a flight attendant said he alarmed her by drawing the plastic knife that came with his food across his neck while eyeing her, the FBI said.

Yassin Yaser stroked the knife across both sides of his neck "imitating the motion that could be used to slit one's throat," FBI Special Agent Gary Borak wrote in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

Yaser was arrested about 5 a.m. at Newark International Airport. He had flown aboard Continental Airlines flight 91, from Tel Aviv to Newark.

When questioned, Yaser first said he was using the knife to scratch his neck, and then said that "he was joking when he rubbed the knife across his neck and that his conduct was stupid," the complaint said.

It was not immediately clear at what point during the flight the incident occurred or whether the man was restrained aboard the aircraft.

Yaser, 25, was charged with a disorderly persons offense that carries up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The incident occurred nearly a month after hijackers slammed airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing thousands in the nation's worst terrorism incident. It is believed they used knives to assault flight crew members.

"There is a universal commitment between the U.S. attorney's office and law enforcement agencies that all persons suspected of harassing or interfering in any manner which would intimidate or threaten passengers or flight attendants will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law -- zero tolerance," said FBI Special Agent Sandra Carroll, a spokeswoman for the bureau's Newark office.

U.S. Magistrate Susan D. Wigenton ordered Yaser held on $25,000 bail pending a hearing Thursday on whether he violated bail conditions set for an armed robbery charge pending in Chicago.

Yaser's appointed public defender, Chester Keller, argued that Yaser should be released, noting that the flight was connecting to Chicago.

"He's anything but a flight risk," Keller told the magistrate during a 10-minute hearing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Boxer, however, requested the $25,000 bail, noting the pending charge and an "extensive criminal history" that included a four-year prison term in Illinois for burglary in the mid-1990s.

Yaser, a U.S. citizen who had lived in Israel at some point, was also sentenced to a concurrent three-year term in Illinois for arson and a hate crime, said Mike Drewniak, a spokesman for the Newark U.S. attorney's office.

Details of those crimes were not immediately available.

Continental had no immediate comment on the incident.