It should have been a routine departure from Moi International Airport in Mombasa, Kenya. But on November 28, 2002, an Israeli airliner came close to disaster. As the aircraft took off, passengers and crew heard a boom and saw two white vapor trails to the left of the plane. The Arkia Airlines Boeing 757–300 narrowly escaped being shot down by two SA-7 (a.k.a. “Grail”) shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles. These missile systems—Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, or Manpads—fire missiles designed to hit low-flying aircraft. Responsibility for the Mombasa attack was claimed by the shadowy “Government of Universal Palestine in Exile: The Army of...