Flydubai flight: emergency landing after attack in cockpit
The co-pilot of a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday apparently stabbed the pilot and attempted to take control of the aircraft with 174 passengers on board. The captain and passengers were able to regain control of the situation and land the aircraft safely in Saudi Arabia. Commentators seek explanations.
The threat of a lone wolf
La Repubblica takes a closer look at the alleged attacker:
“In all the reports he is described as an Omani national. His nationality comes as a surprise to analysts because there is no fundamentalist presence in that country: there was only one attack in 2024, which was attributed to IS. ... Information leaked from Tel Aviv rules out the possibility that he belonged to an Islamist group. If he is a jihadist, then we are facing the greatest nightmare in the fight against terrorism: the 'lone wolf' who turns to violence without having any concrete links to al-Qaeda, the Caliphate or pro-Iranian networks.”
We should all take over the controls
Anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova sees the incident as a metaphor for the situation we all find ourselves in. She writes on Facebook:
“The aircraft went into a nosedive and was about to crash. But the passengers, Israeli citizens, stormed into the cockpit – apparently accompanied by a flight attendant – and restrained the attacker. The plane was then safely landed by pilots who happened to be on board as passengers. ... Our whole life is like an aeroplane in which we fly as passengers while a fierce struggle is taking place in the closed cockpit. And there is nothing, absolutely nothing, you can do – at least not until people like you intervene and other, normal pilots take control.”
Israeli airline more secure
The attempt would not have been possible on Israeli flag carrier El Al because Israel has learned from previous experience with hijackings, Polityka observes:
“The Israeli authorities, including the Shin Bet and the Mossad, suspect that the incident may have been a terrorist attack. The pilot, who is from Oman, is said to have attempted to seize control of the aircraft and deliberately cause it to crash. ... The case of the Israeli airline El Al is a very special one. ... The experiences of the 1960s and 1970s led to a change in the security measures implemented by the Israeli authorities on board and at airports. Undercover agents from the security services, trained to deal with crisis situations, were present on every El Al flight.”
A new brand of antisemitism
Extreme though the incident may be, it is by no means an isolated case, news website Liberal comments:
“It is part of a growing trend of aggression manifesting not only in the Arab world but also in the West. This new form of antisemitism, fuelled and propagated by Muslim elites, is not based on the old racist characteristics. Rather it holds the entire people of Israel, as well as Jews in the diaspora, jointly responsible for the actions of the Israeli government (criticism of which is not antisemitism). This is evident from the growing number of attacks on synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, schools, restaurants, cultural centres and tourist groups, as well as graffiti on walls and other incidents.”