Weeks after we commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, an eerily similar attempted terrorist assault was narrowly avoided.
On Wednesday morning, on a FlyDubai flight destined for Tel Aviv and carrying around 170 people, the copilot stabbed the captain and the airplane plunged 17,000 feet in under two minutes. All indications are that the copilot intended to take over the airplane and crash it in what top Israeli officials are publicly calling an attempted terrorist attack. But his plans were thwarted by heroic passengers and crew.
Several Israelis on the flight entered the blood-soaked cockpit, subdued the terrorist, tied him with headphone cables, and took back control of the plane. According to testimony, the captain of the flight opened the cockpit door before he fell to the ground from his wounds. One passenger, Yaniv Hayoun, said during a televised meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he managed to take control of the plane’s controls and stop its dive, joking that he was lucky he had watched a documentary series on airplane disasters. Then two off-duty pilots took over and managed to safely land the plane in Saudi Arabia. An Israeli dentist stopped the bleeding of the head pilot, an Indian national who was transported to a hospital after landing.
The quick thinking of the passengers in frightening circumstances not only saved hundreds of lives but also prevented a terrorist attack that would have roiled a region that is already embroiled in the unsettled Iran war. The United Arab Emirates was the first nation to join the Abraham Accords with Israel, and just this week Netanyahu traveled to Abu Dhabi to meet with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. It’s possible that the copilot terrorist behind the attack, an Omani national, was trying to drive a wedge in the relationship and/or possibly discourage other Arab nations, notably Saudi Arabia, from joining the accords.
In addition to the averted disaster, the fact that everybody survived will allow for a thorough investigation. For now, Israeli security officials have said the indications are that it was a “lone wolf” attack and that there was no evidence it was tied to Iran or any other foreign actor.
As much as we celebrate today that the scary scenario was averted, we cannot rest easy. The incident shows that terrorists are still coming up with creative ways to exploit vulnerabilities — in this case, an extremist was able to become a pilot on a major airline in a region with a long history of terrorism. And the terrorist would have succeeded were it not for an incredible series of events. It should serve as another reminder that though 9/11 is but a historical memory, the threat of terrorism has not gone away.