(article version of original September 30 2026 post)
Very interesting, and fortunately happy ended air incident today. This one, unlike the case most of the time, probably is the tip of the iceberg; there is more to it than meets the eye.
I have not yet dived into the details, nor know them, but immediately got a different feeling about it. I am the one that for years, especially after the US 9-11 attacks, mocked the mainstream media for thinking terrorist attacks in the West were done by commando-style Al-Qaeda or ISIS agents. The belief seemed to be that special forces of such groups had infiltrated US territory with scuba gear, arisen out of the water upon a San Diego beach, and then infiltrated and attacked the hinterland.
The mainstream still largely did not understand this was simply a cultural and demographic phenomena. Their own Muslim immigrants, legal or otherwise, were committing the attacks and they were not ISIS special forces or "sleeper cells". The West was still far too politically correct to identify its enemies.
However, this case has a different texture. Pilots tend to like the good life, and get paid well. They are professionals and unlikely to suddenly want to kill themselves along with others. Outwardly very religious, jihadist, or fundamentalist Muslims are not going to get the route (if hired at all) to TLV.
When the Abraham Accords became a reality, and Israel accepted direct flights from Arab countries and Arab Airlines, obviously it accepted that Muslim Arab pilots would be flying into TLV. This opened up a perfect infiltration opportunity for groups who want to stop the normalization of relations between the Gulf States and other Arab states and Israel.
"You wanted Arab pilots, you got them!". What better way to point to the folly of normalization and the "peace process". Anyways, at the very least, while a Muslim pilot in Swiss Airlines wanting to fly the TLV route might raise an eyebrow (and thus some scrutiny), Muslim pilots in Arab Airlines like Emirates, Flydubai etc, would be the norm, even when flying the Tel-Aviv route.
I would not be surprised if in this case, organized assistance and backing was involved. You take a would-be terrorist, and send him to pilot school. He applies to the Arab Airlines now flying to Israel, and eventually ends up on the wanted route. While the Israeli leftist media will undoubtedly call this another (Bibi government) intelligence failure, Israel either accepts Flydubai (and other Arab airlines) flights or doesn't. And the pilots and crew will obviously be mostly Muslims. As long as one of them is not an obviously known and wanted terrorist, and he is simply a citizen of whatever state has now normalized relations with Israel, he would be accepted. Israel does not manage Flydubai's hiring.
In any event, a few years after the accords you would be in a position to have your first "undercover" terrorist in the cockpit and in Israeli routes. The fact that it was the copilot who attacked the primary pilot, and not the other way around, supports this view. He probably had not been in the company long, and likely not very long in the profession either.
It remains to be seen if the copilot was a Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi or other and who it was that may have supported him, but the bravery of someone of the Jewish passengers (together with the fast thinking of the wounded primary pilot), averted what likely could have been the largest terrorist attack against Jews and Israel since Oct 7th, and perhaps since the Holocaust before that.
The brave passengers, who acted calmly, efficiently and coolly, did not only save the lives of everyone on board, but also changed history. The consequences of such an attack would have been dramatic.
The pre-election Netanyahu government would have used this slaughter as the last impetus needed to complete all the unfinished business at hand. Depending on emerging details on the terrorist, the rest of Hamas-controlled Gaza, the Iranian regime, and/or both could have been dealt with decidedly.
Israel's Sept 11 was at hand, and averted by the heroics of a few unarmed men on vacation.
Now, the reaction will undoubtedly be very different, though it shouldn't be. It is now up to the Israeli people, and the Netanyahu government, to not allow this incident to be swept aside as "nothin happened", nor used cynically as political ammunition against Bibi and his government (after all he is always to blame for everything), instead of against Israel's enemies. The investigation should hopefully uncover the copilot's links (likely Iranian), and the reaction should be resolute, intelligent and successful.
Had the plane continued on to Israel, the investigation would have been aided by having possession of the captured terrorist. The Saudis are not likely to hand him over to Israel, and perhaps not even to Dubai (if they suspect they would handed him over to Israel or at least share interrogation & investigation details). But we will see, Saudi Arabia is not in an easy situation at the moment as it is, and has realized her "friends" are impotent. So perhaps it will be forthcoming, we shall see.
The clear idea and goal here was a slaughter, years in the making, one that wished to take the lives of hundreds of innocent people including women and children, along with the fragile peace process between Israel and certain Arab Gulf Kingdoms and tribes.
The effort was against the Arab monarchies, against the tribes, and in the name of a fundamentalist, global, jihadi (likely leftist) Islam dedicated to the destruction of not just Israel but the Western world.