Passengers of the FlyDubai flight on the way to Israel sing “And the main thing is—not to be afraid at all”: 180 people who came within a hair’s breadth of a terrible end.

For the first time in over 20 years, someone has tried to hijack a plane bound for Israel. Miraculously, the attacker, an Omani pilot, was overpowered before he could complete his mission. The entire region held its breath as the morning Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv sent an emergency signal, flashed the hijack code and appeared to veer off course over Saudi airspace. The region then exhaled, almost with a chuckle, when early reports blamed a scuffle between the two pilots. That laughter quickly died as security assessments and passenger testimony revealed that the co-pilot had repeatedly stabbed the captain. The terrorist then seized the controls and pointed the plane toward the ground, dropping almost 20,000 feet in just over a minute, until several crew members and passengers forced their way through the cockpit door and subdued him. Many were injured in the process. The plane made an emergency landing in Tabuk, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where the passengers are now waiting for Israel to bring them home. The assailant’s specific motive and affiliation are still unconfirmed, but Israel is treating the incident as terrorism. Unlike many of the hijackings in Israel's long history, today's had a happy ending. It also came just weeks after the 25th anniversary of the deadliest hijacking in history. Many questions remain. How was this man cleared to fly the plane? What precisely drove him? And what does this mean for the future of air travel in Israel’s busiest flight corridor? El Al suspended its scheduled flights to the United Arab Emirates in March 2026 due to security threats and has not resumed them since. It is possible that the assailant intended to drive a wedge into this crucial alliance. Just yesterday, Benjamin Netanyahu warned in a speech at the IDF’s main air base that “our enemies will try to attack us.” “Don’t mess with us,” he warned. “Our long arm will reach you anywhere, and at any time.” But it was not the avenging fist of the Israeli Air Force nor a heroic rescue by special forces that foiled today’s threat. It was the courage of everyday Israelis. There was a very real and tragic possibility that I would be writing an entirely different article today. With the captain barely hanging on to life, a broken steering system and a damaged wing, it was only by the bravery of a handful of passengers and crew that almost 180 lives were saved. Today, on the fifth day of Sukkot, we will recite the words of Hallel with extra fervor: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

The critically wounded victim of the terrorist attack is Neriah Leiter, the son of Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. Another of the ambassador’s sons, Moshe Leiter, was killed in Gaza at the beginning of the war. The ambassador has been briefed and is monitoring the situation remotely.