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Wednesday, September 30, 2026

09/30 Links Pt1: Heroic Israelis avert a tragedy in the sky; A Nation Like a Lion’—Israeli Airline Passenger Heroics Avert Jihadist Terrorist Attack

From Ian:

‘A Nation Like a Lion’—Israeli Airline Passenger Heroics Avert Jihadist Terrorist Attack
In early 2024 the band Hatikva 6 released a song that captured the spirit of Israel as it responded to the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack. "Everyone looks so ordinary but … We're a nation of superheroes. In each and every one hides a soldier ready to save the world," it says.

The Hebrew version on YouTube has 15 million views; a version with English subtitles, which I recommend you take a break and watch now, has fewer views.

Just in time for the third anniversary of the October 7 attack—and just past the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America—came an episode whose details reminded me of the song.

As Israeli government officials and flight passengers recounted it, a Boeing 737 FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv with about 174 people aboard started rapidly losing altitude, and lights suddenly went out inside the cabin. Flight data indicate the plane plunged about 14,000 feet in about 30 seconds.

"It became drastic," one passenger on the flight, Adam Polo, told Fox News. "After a couple of seconds, people started to shout, people that were sitting in the first couple of rows and in the business class that were close to the pilots' room … that there was a stabbing, and that there was blood everywhere, and then they asked that everyone who can help, please join and come immediately. And then we were really really really lucky that I think like 10 guys just jumped to help. Three or four of them actually entered into the pilots' room and succeeded, after a couple of minutes, succeeded to control the situation."

"I ran toward the cockpit," a passenger on the plane, Yaniv Hayun, told The Free Press. "We physically fought with the co-pilot; he was going wild. I put him in a choke hold, took control of him, and dragged him out of the cockpit. … Then I called for other Israelis to help restrain him." They did so using headphone cords and zip ties, according to the Free Press account.

One passenger, Itzhak Liber, was pictured on video saying in Hebrew, "there was an attacker with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots. We simply jumped and removed him from the cockpit."

The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an election on October 27, 2026, that polls indicate is close, met with Hayun at Ben Gurion International Airport, where the passengers eventually arrived after a stop in Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu released video clips and images of his meeting with Hayun, whose shirt and socks were soaked with blood. Hayun, as his wife and two daughters looked on, explained to Netanyahu how he subdued the terrorist copilot. Hayun then recounted how he had pulled back on the yoke of the aircraft based on what he'd seen watching a television show, Air Crash Investigation, also known as Mayday.

Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, was quoted by the Times of Israel that the event "was a jihadist terrorist attack attempt, which was thwarted only thanks to the bravery of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist and, with their own hands, restored control of the plane to another flight crew who was present there."

Netanyahu also credited "Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery. Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster."

The mid-air heroics by passengers are reminiscent of those aboard the planes that were hijacked as part of the September 11 terrorist attack. Daniel Lewin, a passenger aboard a plane from Boston that was eventually flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, appears to have battled the terrorists, according to his family members and accounts by others aboard the plane who got word out before it crashed. And Todd Beamer was heard saying "let's roll" as he led the effort that apparently caused United Flight 93 to crash near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, rather than the terrorist target in Washington.

President Trump called it "the most amazing story" and said the key Israeli passenger was a professional plumber. "A plumber. Never flew a plane. Strong guy," the president said.
Dr Brian L Cox: World Central Kitchen convoy attack is a tragedy, not a crime
There is no doubt that the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza last April was a tragedy. The question that has been circulating in the court of public opinion since then is whether it was also a crime.

According to a recent statement published by Israel’s Military Advocate General’s Corps, the answer is no. The decision not to initiate criminal prosecution was later denounced in a joint statement from the governments of Australia, Canada, and the UK as “shameful.”

The World Central Kitchen attack,” laments the statement, “is one of countless incidents in Gaza where there has been no accountability.”

In reality, it is the double standard expected of Israel created by narratives such as that reflected in this joint statement that is “shameful.”

Rhetoric demanding accountability based on the perceived outcome of attacks during the conduct of armed hostilities has become standard practice for human rights NGOs and other advocates with no responsibility for implementing in practice international law as it exists in doctrine. After all, many NGOs and similar special interests “typically exist for purely humanitarian purposes,” which means their perspective on the application of international law “is far from neutral.”

The popular effects-based approach to applying the law of armed conflict often adopted by humanitarian activists is misguided because it doesn’t align with how foundational rules such as distinction and proportionality function in practice. For governments to espouse this approach in public messaging is absolutely inexcusable.

Yet, this is precisely what the joint statement from Australia, Canada, and the UK does.

The message claims, “Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” yet it fails to explain how these governments believe Israel failed to do so. Although the joint statement correctly notes that an inquiry by Israel characterised the “incident as a serious mistake and failure,” the “serious failure” occurred “due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures.”

Failures involving compliance with relevant use of force policy do not necessarily involve violations of international law, nor are they inherently criminal.

Indeed, the Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism carried out by the Israel Defense Force considered the “totality of the operational circumstances” and determined that “notwithstanding serious failures in the process that led to the assessment that Hamas operatives were travelling in the vehicles, the decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.”

This conclusion was reached by evaluating the process that led to the attack, rather than the perceived outcome based on information that came to light after the incident.

That is how the law of armed conflict is actually applied in practice.

The joint statement, by contrast, declares that the “victims of this incident and their families deserve justice and accountability.” This represents a demand to hold personnel accountable —by initiating criminal prosecution for an incident that does not constitute a crime — based on the effects of the attack.

By this logic, it was shameful for the United States not to prosecute anyone responsible for the 2015 attack on the Médecins Sans Frontières trauma centre in Kunduz, Afghanistan, even though the official inquiry determined, correctly, that the incident was not criminal in nature despite the “human error” that contributed to the incident. The same can be said for the decision by the German government not to pursue criminal prosecution following a separate 2009 civilian casualty incident in Kunduz, or by the Netherlands following the tragic 2015 airstrike in Hawija, Iraq.

According to the precedent set by the Australia/Canada/UK joint statement, it is now shameful for any government not to prosecute troops responsible for civilian casualty incidents when human error is involved, including the governments responsible for this statement, even if an official inquiry determines relevant personnel did not violate applicable law.

Foreign minister Penny Wong went a step further by declaring “Australia is outraged by the Israeli Government’s decision to not pursue any criminal proceedings against those responsible for” the attack.

Yet despite all the indignant geopolitical rhetoric, none of the governments behind the joint statement have explained what provision of the law, whether international or domestic, they believe was violated.

This effects-based construct completely contradicts how international law actually functions in practice.


Israelis rescued from northern Ethiopia after days trapped by rebel advance
Some 20 Israeli citizens who were stuck in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region amid a rebel advance in the area have been rescued after three days of “intensive efforts,” the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry said it worked in coordination with the Israeli embassy in Addis Ababa and other relevant authorities to extract the stranded Israelis from the area.

“The group of Israelis who had become stranded in Lalibela in northern Ethiopia amid the security escalation in the area were evacuated yesterday and today by helicopter,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Helicopters transported the group to a safe area, from which they will continue on to Addis Ababa,” the ministry continued.

It said representatives would continue to accompany and assist the group until they arrive safely in Addis Ababa.

The Israelis became trapped in the Tigray region as a result of heavy clashes that erupted last week between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government.

The fighting has raised fears of a return to the full-blown civil war of 2020-2022, in which an estimated 600,000 people died. People walk in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, as fighting escalates with the central government, September 24, 2026. (AP Photo)

The Israelis were stuck in the city of Lalibela, where airports are reportedly closed and road travel is dangerous.

The stranded Israelis wrote to the Foreign Ministry to request help, the Ynet news site reported earlier this week.

The letter reportedly informed the ministry that “flights have been canceled indefinitely, and this is no longer just a delay of a few days” and that “the city’s fuel, food and cash stocks are extremely limited.”

Dozens of civilians, including children, have been killed in the renewed fighting as Ethiopian government forces bombard towns in Tigray and push north towards the rebel-held capital, health workers and locals told AFP on Tuesday.

Fighting is ongoing along several fronts, but government forces appear to be pushing north into Tigray, towards the regional capital of Mekelle.


Heroic Israelis avert a tragedy in the sky
If there had not been ordinary Israelis on vacation aboard that plane, with their determined and well-organized will to survive, the world today might have been facing a new 9/11 in Tel Aviv: an aircraft used as a jihadist weapon smashed into the ground with its 174 passengers—men, women and children—most of them Israelis.

The plane plunged 17,000 meters and continued losing altitude 350 kilometers from the Israeli border, very close to what was probably the intended target of the Omani co-pilot. According to some accounts, he shouted Allahu Akbar, the cry of the shahid, and stabbed the captain shortly before setting his plan for a mass-suicide terrorist attack in motion.

It may be the first time in the history of aircraft hijackings that one has been thwarted by the passengers themselves, with the courageous help of the Emirati cabin crew.

Crucially, another flight crew was aboard the aircraft as part of a routine crew arrangement. After the captain was seriously wounded, two pilots from that crew entered the cockpit, took control of the aircraft and flew it to safety.

The tail of the aircraft was damaged during the violent jolts, and sheer luck prevented the plane from breaking apart.

During the terrifying roller-coaster ride, a handful of heroes—whom we now see in photographs and videos covered in blood—neutralized the terrorist and tended to the seriously wounded captain.

Every Israeli knows to watch his back and to react when necessary, whether in the field or in the difficult circumstances of everyday life.

The jungle of baggage and document checks, the labyrinth travelers have faced at airports around the world since 1972, originated with the Lod Airport massacre, in which 26 people were killed.

It is difficult to prevent mass-suicide terrorism conceived by an ultrareligious or disturbed mind. There was the EgyptAir flight whose co-pilot deliberately plunged the aircraft into the Atlantic with 217 people aboard in 1999, according to U.S. investigators, repeatedly saying, “I rely on God.”

There have been many other cases of madness or fanaticism, including Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who deliberately crashed an Airbus into the French Alps in 2015, killing all 150 people aboard. And in 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared with 239 people aboard.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned—while being criticized, as usual, by the opposition—of the possibility of unusual acts of aggression during these days.

Unfortunately, the backdrop is now twofold.

On the one hand, there are warnings of possible attacks against Jews and Israelis traveling abroad during the Sukkot holiday. Iran continually threatens to strike Israelis and Jews around the world, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has reinforced that message in recent days.

And now, amid rampant antisemitism, there is also the unpredictability of radicalized individuals who believe that attacking Jews is an act of political or religious purity, or even of justice.
No longer led like sheep to slaughter: Israelis' fight for the right to live
Israel's actions are not about revenge
“No longer led like sheep to the slaughter” does not mean revenge, nor does it mean denying the value of others’ lives. I. It means recognizing that a sovereign Jewish state must protect its citizens, because if it does not, no one can guarantee that anyone else will do so in its place.

Since the massacre of October 7, Israeli society has been compelled to confront pain that is difficult to describe: murder, abduction, loss, fear, and the feeling that the ground had fallen away beneath our feet. Yet another spirit rose out of this rupture as well - a spirit of mobilization, mutual responsibility, reserve service, volunteering, lifesaving action, and rebuilding. We did not seek this war, it was imposed upon us. But when enemies openly declare their wish to destroy, expel, and devastate, the answer cannot be to close our eyes.

It is worth asking: what is this pathological hatred of Jews and of Israel meant to produce? What is expected of a people that survived an attempt at total annihilation, that faces military, terrorist, and psychological threats, and that hears in the streets of London, New York, and Paris chants that blur its right to exist? Are we expected to sit silently in the face of delegitimization that fuels more hatred? Are we meant to believe that calls for Israel’s erasure are merely “political criticism”?

This is where the deepest mistake lies. Israel is not the problem for those who seek freedom, life, and human dignity. It is part of the struggle for them. We live in a complex region, surrounded by forces that do not conceal their opposition to our very existence. In the face of the threat of an Iranian nuclear capability, armed militias, and terrorism from Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq, we cannot afford the luxury of naivety.

In the 1990s, Samuel Huntington wrote about a “clash of civilizations.” One need not accept all of his conclusions to recognize that Israel often stands on a fault line between worldviews: between liberty and oppression, between civilian life and terror, between a desire to build and a desire to destroy. Israel extends a hand in peace to all who genuinely seek peace; but it will not offer its neck to those who seek its destruction.

Therefore, in response to the slogan “From the river to the sea,” we must state the truth: freedom is a worthy value - but not at the cost of erasing another people. “A free people in our land” is not merely a lyric or a symbol; it is the most enduring Jewish aspiration and the foundation of our existence here.

We will continue to confront violence and extremism within our own society as well, because a moral society is measured by its ability to criticize itself. But anyone who looks at Israel fairly must understand this: our strength does not stem from a lust for power, but from a resolute decision to live.

No longer led like sheep to the slaughter.

A free people in its land.

A people that seeks peace yet is prepared to fight for the very right to live.
Flydubai terror attempt brings to mind the hijackings of 1970s in Israeli consciousness
For a tense stretch on Wednesday morning, the news carried Israelis back to an older chapter of terror.

Not October 7. Not the bus and café bombings of the Second Intifada. Further back: to the aircraft hijackings of the 1970s, when a flight carrying Israelis could become a hostage crisis and an entire country would wait anxiously to learn where the plane had landed and what would happen to those aboard.

Dawson’s Field in Jordan. Sabena. Entebbe. Names that older Israelis need little explanation for, and that younger Israelis know from the history books.

Then came Wednesday’s alerts, in rapid succession: a flydubai plane en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv transmitted an emergency signal associated with hijacking. The plane changed course in midair. Israeli fighter jets were scrambled.

Suddenly, a routine flight home became the focus of national attention.

Israelis followed updates with bated breath, they were 'our passengers'
Where was the plane? Who was controlling it? Had someone seized it? Were the passengers safe?

Israelis followed the updates with bated breath. Those with relatives or friends aboard faced their own immediate terror. Others needed no personal connection. A plane carrying Israelis, in distress somewhere over the region, was enough.

Each update mattered. A report that contact had been lost deepened the anxiety; the first indications that the plane was not hijacked offered hope.

Then came the news everyone had been waiting for some 90 long minutes: the aircraft landed safely in Saudi Arabia. The passengers were safe.

Relief.
Netanyahu: Israel to join flydubai probe, ‘we’ll find out’ whether Iran was involved
In a wide-ranging CNN interview, the prime minister said UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed agreed that Israel would participate in the investigation. Netanyahu said Israel had no specific warning about the flydubai incident, defended the war against Iran, rejected reports of pre-October 7 warnings, and called the framing of “settler violence” a “tremendous hoax” while condemning vigilante attacks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel would join the investigation into the Flydubai co-pilot suspected in the dramatic incident aboard a flight approaching Israel, saying investigators would soon be able to determine whether Iran had any connection to the event.

In an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Netanyahu stressed that he did not yet have information allowing him to attribute the incident to Tehran.

“What we know is [that he is] an Omani national,” Netanyahu said of the attacking co-pilot.

Netanyahu described screams coming from the cockpit as the aircraft approached Israel and said an Israeli passenger, a plumber named Yaniv, rushed toward the cockpit.

Netanyahu's account of the flydubai incident
According to Netanyahu, the Indian pilot who had been stabbed “showed incredible heroism” by managing, despite bleeding heavily, to unlock the cockpit door.

“The Israeli passenger burst in, saw the attacking co-pilot hover over the instruments,” Netanyahu said. “He wasn’t sitting in one of the two pilot seats, but he was trying to jam the instruments.”

Netanyahu said the passenger threw the attacker backward, took the controls and pulled back on the stick while another Israeli passenger and an air crew member helped restrain the attacker.

Reserve pilots who had been in the passenger area then entered the cockpit and stabilized the aircraft, which Netanyahu said had gone into a nosedive and sustained damage to its rudder and tail.

“The amazing heroism here of the Indian pilot, the Israeli passenger and his colleagues, and those pilots managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster, because that’s what it looks like was happening,” he said.
Jake Wallis Simons: Don’t mess with Israeli airline passengers
What would you do? That’s the question that comes naturally to mind when reading about sudden emergencies. Would you be brave? Or would you freeze? There is no way of knowing, and no emergency is more terrifying than a hijack in mid-air.

Exactly what took place on flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv this morning is still to emerge, but one thing is clear: it provided yet another example of that blunt courage for which Israelis are famed, and which has largely faded from Britain.

What do we know? The co-pilot, an Omani national, allegedly stabbed the captain in the cockpit, and the plane plunged thousands of feet. Two off-duty pilots travelling as passengers helped stop the attacker, and Israeli passengers helped restrain him.

The aircraft was brought under control and landed safely at Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, a country with which Israel does not even have formal diplomatic relations. According to one account, an Israeli dentist on board kept the wounded captain alive. Benjamin Netanyahu says the co-pilot may have been trying to crash the plane; the airline says his motives remain unknown.

Now, most of those Israeli passengers will have served in the military and plenty will have seen combat. Britons certainly don’t envy them that. Yet training can explain only so much. The bedrock beneath is the Israeli instinct to take responsibility for one another, to feel a bond of duty to their countrymen, to grab the reins of a runaway wagon without waiting for somebody else to step in.

The third anniversary of October 7 is next week. On that ordinary Saturday, ordinary people reacted to the emergency by grabbing whatever weapon was to hand and running towards the killing fields.
Ben Shapiro: A Terrorist Tried to Hijack a Flight of 170 Israelis. The Passengers Stopped Him. An Omani co-pilot tries to fly a plane filled with Israelis into the ground, but his terrorist attack is stopped by the brave passengers and pilot; Zohran Mamdani, anti-Semite extraordinaire, announces his plan to combat anti-Semitism.

Commentary Podcast: Rushing the Cockpit
Our friend Matt Continetti is back to discuss breaking news of a thwarted 9/11-style attack on a flight from Dubai to Tel-Aviv and the heroism of the passengers who averted disaster, and how this ties to recent terrorism stories coming out of the UK, and to Iranian grand strategy. Plus, Senator Eric Schmitt embarrassing sports gaffe during the Jack Smith hearing, and Matt recommends the reissue of Saul Bellow's To Jerusalem and Back.


Hugh Hewitt: Abe Greenwald on the attack/attempted hijacking of a FlyDubai flight and Troy Jackson blaming Jews



Netanyahu calls Machchhar 'true hero', 'salutes' Flydubai pilot for saving lives
Captain Smit Machchhar was hailed by passengers on Wednesday after he successfully fought back against a rogue co-pilot who wanted to crash Flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv despite being injured by his colleague. "You saved the plane, you did well," they praised him after the flight was diverted to Saudi Arabia, with the passengers effectively taking hold of the cockpit with the help of the reserve pilots who happened to be on board. Former SpiceJet commander Smit Machchhar was wounded in mid-air terror incident in Dubai-Tel Aviv flight (Usage under Israel's Intellectual Property Law Article 27(a); Social media)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also issued his own gratitude on X, writing: "My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery. Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker – preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster. He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals. I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery. He is a true hero."

Several months ago, the pilot sat for an interview in which he reflected on his path to the flight deck, and noted that "First of all, unlike a lot of other aviators right now, aviation was not like a childhood dream,". Following parental encouragement to "Just figure out how and where you can do it," he trained in New Zealand.

Remarks he regarding the undervalued nature of aviation crew members, get another layer of importance in the wake of the close call in the flight. Although passengers often overlook their day-to-day service, their indispensable utility becomes clear during emergencies, he said they have a critical role. "When things are going wrong, you need them," Machchhar stated.

Crew members undergo specialized training to handle critical situations when medical professionals are unavailable on board, the pilot said. "When we are up there and if something happens, you know, who's gonna save you? You'll be lucky enough to have a doctor on board, but if not, then they are trained. I'm not saying they are trained to do, you know, surgeries and stuff, but then they can save your life, you know. So, it is unfortunate how the entire outlook of people is towards the crew. But when things are going wrong, you need them."


Indian flydubai pilot Smit Machchhar reportedly unlocked cockpit, named assailant, while wounded
The flydubai pilot who was stabbed on flight FZ1073, Indian national Capt. Smit Machchhar, reportedly unlocked the cockpit door before losing consciousness, passenger Yaniv Hayoun told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the two spoke at Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday.

Hayoun told Netanyahu that the cockpit door was unlocked, but Machchhar was close enough to the door that it was difficult to open. "My conclusion is that he resourcefully managed to open the door for us before he collapsed," he explained.

Netanyahu later expanded on this in a Twitter/X statement praising Machchhar's heroism.

"Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster," the prime minister wrote. "He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals."

Several passengers, including Israeli dentist Shota Musayev, administered first-aid care to Machchhar, keeping him alive until he was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia after the plane made an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport. Musayev told Walla that Machchhar was badly wounded, bleeding heavily from his head and hands. The dentist was able to stop the bleeding and told Walla that his condition did stabilize after that, but deteriorated once again as the plane was landing.

Musayev also said that Machchhar was able to verbally communicate that the other pilot stabbed him.

Machchhar is an experienced pilot, specializing in training new recruits
According to several Indian news outlets, Machchhar is a Gujarati Indian from Mumbai. According to his LinkedIn profile, he spent over a decade flying for Indian airline SpiceJet, where he also served as a training captain and mentor for new pilots, before moving to flydubai. His profile also notes that he accumulated about 9,750 flying hours on the 737-800 and the 737 MAX 8 and 9.

The LinkedIn profile also indicates that Machchhar is a father.

The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar was "admitted in a hospital in Tabuk city in northwest Saudi Arabia and [is] receiving necessary medical attention."

The embassy said that while they have not received a full update on the pilot's health, he is reported to be in stable condition. Officials are also in touch with Machchhar's family, the embassy added.


Netanyahu confirms flydubai pilot conducted stabbing, praises passengers' heroism at Ben-Gurion
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement to the public on Wednesday afternoon following the suspected hijacking incident involving a flydubai plane meant to land in Tel Aviv earlier in the day, confirming that one of the pilots had carried out a stabbing attack.

He later arrived at the Ben-Gurion Airport to greet the passengers who landed back in Israel on Wednesday evening.

"All passengers are out of danger," Netanyahu said in his earlier statement. "The pilot who carried out the stabbing has been arrested and is currently being questioned by the Saudi authorities. We are in close contact with the relevant authorities to ensure the continued safety of the passengers and their safe return to Israel."

The prime minister also explained that one of the Israeli passengers broke into the cockpit along with a crewmember and managed to neutralize the threat of the attacking pilot while another crewmember stabilized the plane.

"I salute these heroes who showed extraordinary resourcefulness and courage," Netanyahu said. "They saved many lives; they averted a major disaster. The plane landed safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia."

Later, Netanyahu was filmed at the airport embracing one of the passengers who helped neutralize the attacker on the plane, who was still wearing a blood-stained shirt.

"It’s simply unbelievable what you did, you know? Simply unbelievable. You didn’t just save everyone on the plane. You don’t know what could have happened to it. We don’t know what would have happened," Netanyahu told him.

Before his visit to Ben-Gurion Airport, Netanyahu spoke with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The two leaders met in person earlier in the week when the Israeli prime minister flew to the Gulf nation at bin Zayed al-Nahyan's invitation. The Prime Minister's Office said on Monday that the visit "focused on strengthening relations between the two countries and on regional challenges."


Restricted video: Graphic footage from aboard the flydubai flight shows the pilot who was stabbed.



El Al, Israir jump 9% after flydubai flight
Israir and El Al stocks recorded an almost 9% rise on Wednesday following the flydubai situation regarding a flight that was diverted to Saudi Arabia while on its way to Tel Aviv from Dubai after one of the pilots attempted to hijack and crash the plane.

Israir opened at NIS 1,45 and reached a high of NIS 1,58, with its current variation at the time of writing at 8.8%. El Al rose from NIS 1,74 to NIS 1,85, a 7,9% gain.

Israir also reported a severe loss of value in its stock over the last month, falling from NIS 1,60 on September 9 to NIS 1,44 reported on Tuesday, just before the recent jump registered on Wednesday.

El Al’s stock was more stable, with a steady increase over the last month after major falls between March and August that brought it to a low of NIS 1,2 per share.

Now El Al reports an all-time high in its current valuation, while the market capitalization estimates that the company is valued at NIS 10 billion with the latest rise in the stock, according to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange report.

Flydubai, a state-owned company, didn’t suffer in its valuation because it isn't publicly traded.


The Trouble With Looking at Gaza From Space Is You Can’t See Underground
I have spent most of my working life looking at photographs and asking a fairly basic question: what does this picture actually prove?

That question came back to me this week when I saw the extraordinary new satellite images of Gaza appearing across the media.

The Independent⁠ reported that Google Earth had “exposed” the devastation. El País⁠ produced a striking before-and-after presentation allowing readers to move across Gaza and compare neighborhoods before the war with Google’s latest imagery.

The pictures are remarkable.

Whole neighborhoods have changed beyond recognition. Buildings have disappeared. Roads cut through areas that were once densely built. Large sections of Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza are rubble. Nobody looking at these images can sensibly dispute the enormous physical destruction.

But a satellite photograph has the same limitation as every other photograph.

It can only show what is inside the frame.

And in this case, the frame stops at ground level.

That is particularly relevant in Gaza.

Take Tel al-Sultan in Rafah. It features prominently in the new El País comparison⁠, where the latest satellite image shows an area almost completely destroyed.

Now come back down to earth.

In September 2024, Reuters reporters were taken by the Israeli military into Tel al-Sultan⁠. There they were shown the entrance to a tunnel in what appeared to have been a child’s room inside a destroyed house.

Around 20 meters underneath them was the tunnel where six Israeli hostages had been held and killed by Hamas. The IDF said it formed part of a recently uncovered 13-kilometer underground network. Reuters reported what its journalists were shown while appropriately attributing the wider claims to the Israeli military.

Look at Tel al-Sultan from Google’s satellite, and you cannot see any of that.

That doesn’t prove why the buildings above were destroyed. I don’t know, from those satellite pictures, how many buildings were destroyed because of tunnels, fighting, airstrikes, bulldozing, the creation of military corridors or something else.

Neither does Google.


Islamic Jihad Terrorist Identified as Employee of UN-Linked Gaza Aid Group
A MA’AN Development Center employee who worked on a United Nations food-aid project in Gaza was identified as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad combatant in a martyr poster publicized Friday by researcher and HonestReporting board member Salo Aizenberg.

The employee, Abdullah Tayseer Aziz, was killed in January 2025 after an Israeli strike on a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse operated by MA’AN in Deir al-Balah.

In a January 2025 statement, CARE, an international humanitarian organization and MA’AN partner, explicitly identified him by name as a member of MA’AN’s staff.

A January 7, 2025, Facebook post reproduced by Aizenberg also mourned Aziz as a colleague and said he had worked on MA’AN’s in-kind food-assistance project in partnership with WFP.

What Is MA’AN?
MA’AN Development Center is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1989 and based in Ramallah, with relief and development programs in Gaza and the West Bank.

Its funding has included support from Canada, Norway, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, the European Union and UN agencies. Canada alone approved up to C$2 million for a 2025–2026 Gaza project.

MA’AN has also worked with the UN’s World Food Programme and CARE, a major international humanitarian organization operating in more than 100 countries.

CARE Confirmed Aziz Worked for MA’AN
CARE explicitly identified Abdullah Tayseer Aziz by name as a member of MA’AN’s staff in a January 2025 statement.

The connection between MA’AN and WFP is also documented by MA’AN itself. The organization says it has worked with WFP distributing food aid in Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah, including tens of thousands of food parcels and other supplies.

A Facebook post reproduced by Aizenberg and dated January 7, 2025, mourned Aziz as a colleague and said he had worked on MA’AN’s in-kind food-assistance project in partnership with WFP.

An Earlier MA’AN Employee Belonged to the PFLP
A previous MA’AN worker was also linked to a designated Palestinian terrorist organization.

In 2018, MA’AN employee Ahmad Abdullah al-Adine was killed during violence along the Gaza security fence. NGO Monitor documented PFLP material describing Al-Adine as a member of the group’s leadership in Deir al-Balah. MA’AN itself mourned him at the time as a colleague.

Al-Adine’s PFLP membership was not acknowledged only by Israeli organizations. A 2018 policy brief from the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia stated that he “belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” while arguing that he was merely a non-permanent contractor and that his affiliation should not be used to implicate MA’AN itself.

The revelation prompted Australia to suspend the government-funded project administered through Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, which partnered with MA’AN. APHEDA later said the project resumed after a Deloitte audit commissioned by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which it said cleared APHEDA of the allegations.





 


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