Police last night arrested the 39-year-old daughter of the former Israeli defense minister on outstanding drug charges as she tried to fly from Kennedy Airport to Tel Aviv, The Post has learned.
Talya Ben-Eliezer was taken into custody about 8:40 p.m. as she tried to go through security at Terminal 4, and was hauled off to central booking in Queens, Port Authority police confirmed. She was heading toward Delta Flight 268.
It didn’t take long before officials with the Israeli consulate in Manhattan began “calling everyone on this,” one source told The Post.
Israeli consulate spokesman Shahar Azani said, “We are not at liberty to discuss individual cases.”
Ben-Eliezer is one of five children of Labor Party Knesset Member Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a retired senior commander in the Israeli army who served as defense minister in 2001 and 2002. He has also been the military governor in the occupied West Bank and a deputy prime minister.
The elder Ben-Eliezer did not respond to messages from The Post.
Talya Ben-Eliezer was detained on an outstanding “no-bail warrant” issued by the sheriff in Tampa, Fla., for a “dangerous drug” offense. She was booked as a “fugitive from justice.”
The Florida sheriff’s office did not have an immediate comment on the arrest. Customs officials did not have a comment.
A source familiar with the situation told The Post that Ben-Eliezer had been in Florida about a year undergoing medical treatment for a seizure condition. The arrest warrant was issued after, the source said, the woman allegedly obtained oxycontin without the proper paperwork.
Ben-Eliezer was not traveling on a diplomatic passport. Instead, she was flying as an American citizen; she holds both US and Israeli citizenship. She is expected to be extradited to Florida to face a charge of “obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.” The warrant for her arrest was issued on July 27, according to sheriff’s records.
A source said soon after Ben-Eliezer was detained at the airport “she stated … to Customs officials” that she is the daughter of a senior member of the Israeli government.
Additional reporting by Philip Messing