Flydubai attack gives Netanyahu new security message ahead of Israel vote

Motive behind Flydubai incident still unclear, but Israeli PM is framing it within his warnings of threats to Israelis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Yaniv Hayun, a passenger on the Israel-bound Flydubai flight diverted to Saudi Arabia, at Ben Gurion airport in Israel on October 1, 2026 [Handout/GPO via Reuters]

Many questions about the apparent attempted hijacking of flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv remain unanswered. What was the motive of the attacker, the flight’s unnamed co-pilot , who stabbed the captain before being overpowered? What were the aims of his attack?

And yet, in contrast to the ambiguity that still exists, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – amidst his appearances greeting returning passengers – has been quick to frame the attack as the almost inevitable outcome of the “propaganda” he says continues to vilify Israel.

list 1 of 4 Trump amazed that an ‘Israeli plumber’ helped land Flydubai flight

list 2 of 4 How will investigation into Flydubai flight attack unfold?

list 3 of 4 UAE investigates possible ‘terrorist’ link in attack on flight to Israel

list 4 of 4 How was the Flydubai co-pilot who attacked his captain cleared to fly?

While conceding it was too early to establish a motive, Netanyahu nevertheless pointed to Iran – which Israel and the United States launched a war against in late February – and its proxies as intent on stepping up attacks on Israelis abroad. He claimed on Thursday that it had been established that the co-pilot had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”.

For a politician who has long portrayed himself as the only leader capable of truly defending Israelis in the face of the threats he says they face, the attempted hijacking arguably bolsters Netanyahu’s narrative ahead of a pivotal parliamentary election later this month that will determine whether he remains Israel’s leader.

“It’s probably too early to say how this will pan out politically,” said former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy, speaking to Al Jazeera.

“But it could have the advantage of removing many things that Netanyahu doesn’t want to see on the country’s front pages, such as the approaching anniversary of October 7 [2023 attacks on Israel], and replacing them with a story hinting at Iranian involvement, at the same time as other claims of possible Iranian operations are surfacing,” he said, referring to accusations of Tehran’s potential involvement in an incident near a US Air Force base in the United Kingdom.

“That would certainly give fresh impetus to the outcome that Netanyahu is pushing for – namely the resumption of intensified strikes against Iran, which also helps distract from Netanyahu’s domestic difficulties and could be touted as vindicating his warnings of earlier this week,” he said.

Netanyahu on Tuesday published a video statement in which he warned of “indications that, ahead of the elections, our enemies will try to attack us”, a warning his opponents swiftly dismissed as unevidenced fearmongering.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, who called the plane attack an “attempted jihadist terror attack”, also appeared to refer back to the earlier warning, saying: “When the prime minister and I issue security warnings and alerts based on intelligence, everyone would do well, both our enemies abroad and uninformed former officials at home, to listen and take them seriously.”

However, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid – who had received a security briefing from Netanyahu on Tuesday night – was quick to reject such a connection, saying on Wednesday that “nothing even resembling [the plane attack] appeared in the security briefing with the prime minister last night”.

Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, who the leaders of Israel and India hailed as a hero for saving passengers after he was stabbed by his colleague in an alleged attempt to crash a Flydubai plane on Wednesday [File: Handout/Israel Foreign Ministry via Reuters]

For some observers who have followed Netanyahu – Israel’s longest-serving prime minister – for years, his actions following the attempted hijacking have been part of a long-running method of ensuring the aftermath of crises works in his favour.

“Netanyahu is trying to gain politically from the event,” said Ahron Bregman, an Israeli security analyst and senior teaching fellow at King’s College London. “You could see him, soon after the passengers landed in Israel, chatting with one of the Israeli heroes [who had subdued the co-pilot].”

But Bregman doesn’t necessarily think that Netanyahu, who polls predict may narrowly be beaten in the elections, will benefit.

“There is no political gain for him,” Bregman said. “[The attack] surprised him as it surprised all of us.”

Bregman added that Netanyahu’s only hope might be if a connection to Iran is established, leading to further escalation in the conflict with Tehran, which the US has appeared to be backing away from.

“There was clearly a security glitch which will be investigated,” Bregman told Al Jazeera. “It could have ended in another 9/11, but thanks to some brave passengers, and a massive amount of luck, it was averted.”

Speaking to US media on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that while it was “too early to say” who was behind the failed attempt to seize control of the plane, the co-pilot’s actions were the result of what he described as “fanaticism and hatred of an incalculable level”, sentiments that he suggested were tied to anti-Semitism because of international criticism of Israel.

Netanyahu’s claims of victimhood and persecution have ramped up in tandem with the rising tide of anger among many in the international community over Israel’s genocide in Gaza – in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians – its multiple strikes on neighbouring states, and widespread accusations of state complicity in the increasingly violent settler pogroms in the occupied West Bank, which has led numerous countries to impose restrictions on trade with Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly that Israel was fighting an ‘eighth front’ against those seeking to ‘brainwash young minds to hate Israel, hate America and hate the West’ [Timothy A Clary/AFP]

Addressing the sense of global outrage that he has since blamed for the attempted hijacking, Netanyahu told the United Nations General Assembly last month that Israel was fighting an “eighth front”, in addition to the seven fronts on which he said it was already fighting.

“It’s the war for truth. It is waged in the world’s media, and most perniciously, in social media,” he said, blaming the world’s media, including Al Jazeera, which sought to “brainwash young minds to hate Israel, hate America and hate the West”.

Al Jazeera Media Network has rejected Netanyahu’s attack, calling it the latest example of Israel’s “sustained campaign against Al Jazeera and its journalists”, which has resulted in the killing of 12 of its team in Gaza.

Israel’s government “will want to position the [attempted hijacking] attack against the backdrop of Netanyahu’s speech at the UN,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House.

“It just feeds into the sense of insecurity that many in Israel feel, as well as the trauma that has held since October 7,” he said, adding that it would also feed the sense of hypocrisy many in Israel feel at the sanctioning of a state for taking action against those it frames as intent on its destruction.

Flydubai事件背后的动机仍然不明，但以色列总理将其与以色列人面临的威胁警告联系起来。

2026年10月1日，以色列总理本杰明·内塔尼亚胡在以色列本古里安机场会见了因航班改道飞往沙特阿拉伯而从迪拜航空飞往以色列的乘客亚尼夫·哈云。[路透社供图/GPO]

关于迪拜飞往特拉维夫的FZ1073航班疑似劫机未遂事件，仍有许多疑问悬而未决。袭击者是该航班的副驾驶，身份不明，他在被制服前刺伤了机长。他的袭击动机是什么？他的目的是什么？

然而，与目前仍然存在的暧昧不明的情况相反，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡在迎接返乡旅客的间隙，迅速将此次袭击定性为他所说的持续诋毁以色列的“宣传”几乎不可避免的结果。

列表 1/4：特朗普对一名“以色列水管工”帮助迪拜航空降落航班感到惊讶

问题 2（共 4 题）：对迪拜航空袭击事件的调查将如何展开？

阿联酋调查飞往以色列航班遇袭事件中可能存在的“恐怖主义”关联（共4起，此为第3起）

问题 4（共 4 题）：袭击机长的迪拜航空副驾驶是如何被允许继续飞行的？

尽管内塔尼亚胡承认现在断定动机还为时尚早，但他仍然指出伊朗及其代理人（以色列和美国于2月底对伊朗发动了战争）意图加大对海外以色列人的袭击力度。他周四声称，已经证实副驾驶曾接受过“伊斯兰极端主义灌输”。

对于一位长期以来一直将自己塑造成唯一能够真正捍卫以色列人民免受他所说的威胁的领导人的政治家来说，这次未遂劫机事件无疑强化了内塔尼亚胡在本月晚些时候即将举行的关键性议会选举之前的说法，这次选举将决定他是否继续担任以色列领导人。

“现在判断这件事在政治上会如何发展可能还为时过早，”以色列前政府顾问丹尼尔·利维在接受半岛电视台采访时表示。

“但这样做的好处是，可以移除内塔尼亚胡不想在国家头版看到的许多内容，例如即将到来的10月7日（2023年以色列遭受袭击）周年纪念日，并用暗示伊朗参与其中的故事取而代之，与此同时，其他有关伊朗可能采取行动的说法也浮出水面，”他说道，指的是有关德黑兰可能参与英国美国空军基地附近事件的指控。

“这无疑会给内塔尼亚胡正在推动的结果——即恢复对伊朗的更猛烈打击——注入新的动力，这也有助于转移人们对内塔尼亚胡国内困境的注意力，并可能被视为证实了他本周早些时候的警告，”他说。

内塔尼亚胡周二发布了一段视频声明，他在声明中警告说，“有迹象表明，在大选之前，我们的敌人将试图攻击我们”，他的反对者迅速驳斥了这一警告，称其毫无根据地散布恐慌。

以色列国防部长以色列·卡茨称此次飞机袭击是“企图发动的圣战恐怖袭击”，他似乎也提到了之前的警告，他说：“当我和总理根据情报发布安全警告和警报时，无论是我们在国外的敌人还是国内不明真相的前官员，都应该认真倾听并重视这些警告和警报。”

然而，以色列反对派领导人亚伊尔·拉皮德（Yair Lapid）——他周二晚上听取了内塔尼亚胡的安全简报——很快否认了这种联系，并在周三表示，“昨晚总理的安全简报中根本没有出现任何类似（飞机袭击）的内容”。

印度飞行员斯米特·马赫查尔（Smit Machchhar）周三在一次据称试图撞毁迪拜航空（Flydubai）飞机的事件中被同事刺伤，但他仍然救出了乘客，以色列和印度领导人称赞他是英雄。[图片：以色列外交部通过路透社提供]

对于一些多年来一直关注以色列任期最长的总理内塔尼亚胡的观察家来说，他在劫机未遂事件后的行动，是他长期以来确保危机后果对他有利的策略的一部分。

“内塔尼亚胡试图从这次事件中获取政治利益，”以色列安全分析师、伦敦国王学院高级研究员阿伦·布雷格曼说。“乘客们抵达以色列后不久，你就可以看到他与一位制服了副驾驶的以色列英雄交谈。”

但布雷格曼并不认为民调预测可能会在选举中以微弱劣势落败的内塔尼亚胡会从中受益。

布雷格曼说：“他从中得不到任何政治利益。这次袭击让他和我们所有人一样感到意外。”

布雷格曼补充说，内塔尼亚胡唯一的希望可能是与伊朗建立联系，这将导致与德黑兰的冲突进一步升级，而美国似乎一直在回避这种冲突。

布雷格曼告诉半岛电视台：“显然存在安全漏洞，我们将对此进行调查。这本可能演变成另一起9·11事件，但多亏了一些勇敢的乘客和极大的运气，才避免了悲剧的发生。”

内塔尼亚胡周三在接受美国媒体采访时表示，虽然现在“断言”是谁幕后策划了夺取飞机控制权的未遂事件还为时过早，但副驾驶的行为是他所描述的“难以估量的狂热和仇恨”的结果，他认为这种情绪与反犹主义有关，因为以色列受到了国际社会的批评。

随着国际社会对以色列在加沙的种族灭绝（已造成超过 74,000 名巴勒斯坦人死亡）、对邻国的多次袭击以及对以色列在被占领的西岸日益暴力的定居者屠杀事件中扮演共谋角色的指控日益高涨，内塔尼亚胡声称自己是受害者和遭受迫害的言论也愈演愈烈。这些指控导致许多国家对与以色列在被占领巴勒斯坦领土上的非法定居点的贸易实施了限制。

以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡在联合国大会第81届会议上声称，以色列正在与那些试图“洗脑年轻人，让他们仇恨以色列、仇恨美国和仇恨西方”的人进行“第八战线”的斗争。[Timothy A Clary/AFP]

针对全球民众的愤怒情绪（他后来将这种愤怒归咎于劫机未遂事件），内塔尼亚胡上个月在联合国大会上表示，以色列除了已经在七个战线上作战外，还在“第八个战线”作战。

“这是一场争夺真相的战争。这场战争在世界媒体上打响，尤其在社交媒体上更具破坏性，”他说道，并指责包括半岛电视台在内的世界媒体试图“给年轻人洗脑，让他们仇恨以色列、仇恨美国、仇恨西方”。

半岛电视台驳斥了内塔尼亚胡的攻击，称这是以色列“持续打击半岛电视台及其记者”的最新例证，这场运动已导致其在加沙的 12 名记者丧生。

查塔姆研究所高级咨询研究员约西·梅克尔伯格表示，以色列政府“希望将（劫机未遂）袭击事件与内塔尼亚胡在联合国发表的演讲联系起来”。

“这只会加剧许多以色列人感受到的不安全感，以及自 10 月 7 日以来一直存在的创伤，”他说，并补充说，这也会加剧许多以色列人对一个国家因对其认定为意图摧毁它的人采取行动而受到制裁的虚伪感。