What began as a routine FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv turned into a desperate struggle for control of the aircraft on Wednesday, after a co-pilot allegedly stabbed the pilot and attempted to seize the plane, according to an account published by The Daily Wire.
Early media reports described the incident as an “altercation between the pilot and co-pilot.” The Daily Wire’s account, however, says the reality was far more serious: roughly 90 minutes into the flight, the Omani co-pilot repeatedly stabbed the pilot β an Indian national β and then tried to take control of the aircraft and drive it into the ground. The plane reportedly plunged around 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds.
More than 170 people were on board, and nearly all of them were Israeli citizens.
How the passengers fought back
According to the account, the pilot managed to trigger the emergency button or otherwise open the cockpit door, or the Israeli passengers broke it down. Crew members and passengers forced their way into the cockpit and subdued the attacker. A reserve pilot traveling on board, described as apparently from Fiji, was rushed into the cockpit by passengers who shielded him as he took over the controls.
A doctor on the flight stabilized the wounded pilot so that he survived until the plane landed. When it touched down, Israeli passengers broke into song, singing “Am Yisrael Chai” β “The people of Israel live.”
An investigation is still underway into whether the attack was coordinated with the Iranian government, given the quasi-alliance between Iran and Oman. The Daily Wire argues that what was prevented was nothing less than an international crisis, one that would have drawn in Oman, the UAE, Israel, and India β effectively every country in the region.
The column credits the passengers with stopping a mass-casualty event, noting that a plane full of Israelis meant a very high likelihood that some on board had military training and background, that a doctor would be present, and that people would be willing to step in. The durability and capability of the Israeli public, the piece argues, are extraordinary.
The media narrative under scrutiny
The Daily Wire reserves its harshest criticism for the press coverage that followed. It points to a New York Times headline β “FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv issues distress signal before landing in Saudi Arabia” β and another Times report describing the incident as a plane “diverted after an altercation between the pilot and copilot, Israeli officials said.”
Yahoo! was singled out for a headline reading, “FlyDubai flight diverted to Saudi Arabia after reported fight between pilots.” The BBC, meanwhile, reported that “passengers tell Israeli media a pilot was stabbed as flight total plunged 17,000 ft and diverted to Saudi Arabia,” adding that an Israeli passenger said the crew asked for help and that passengers helped tackle one of the pilots and tie him down.
The column’s central charge is that the media is not merely failing at its job but actively obscuring the story β that a reader could finish these headlines and come away with precisely the opposite of the truth. It compares calling a stabbing and attempted downing of an airliner an “altercation” to describing a brutal murder as a mere dispute, and accuses outlets of tying themselves in knots to avoid labeling the event as Islamic terrorism.
The passengers eventually made their way home. The column notes there was a commotion in Saudi Arabia, whose government has not normalized relations with Israel, over efforts to bar an Israeli plane from landing so its own citizens could return.
Unanswered questions and regional fallout
Many questions remain. Chief among them: why the co-pilot was not flagged in advance, and how he ended up at the controls of a commercial flight. The column notes that back in March, El Al halted flights to the UAE over security concerns.
FlyDubai is a government-owned airline, which the piece describes as deeply embarrassing for the UAE government and likely to trigger a harsh Emirati investigation.
In the end, the column directs all credit to the people on board: the passengers who fought back, and the pilot β called a hero β for resisting the person trying to stab him to death, ensuring the transponder was activated, and making sure the door was open enough that he could be saved.
None of that credit, the piece concludes, belongs to the media, whose “intentional blindness,” it warns, is leading down a road to ruin.
Source: www.dailywire.com β https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-a-plane-full-of-israelis-fought-terrorists-and-the-media-narrative