EXTRA
In The Middle East, You May Want To Fly Dubai, But If You Want To Land, Count On Israel
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/10/01/world/flydubai-flight-israel-plane-pilots
By now the world is aware that on September 30 a FlyDubai 737 took off from Dubai on its way to Tel Aviv loaded with about 175 people, most of whom were Israeli. Over the Arabian desert, the co-pilot attacked the pilot with a knife the co-pilot shouldn’t have had. Miraculously, despite his injuries, the pilot was able to unlock the secured door to the flight deck allowing passengers to get him help, to render the attacker neutralized, and, because there were airline crew members riding on the plane, safely land the airplane in Saudi Arabia despite it dropping over three miles out of the sky over two minutes at one point after the attack on the pilot.
All of this was very reminiscent of the story of United 93 on September 11, 2001 when hijackers were overwhelmed by some brave passengers. Unfortunately, in that case, those on the plane all perished in a crash, but the plane did no damage in Washington, D.C. which is where it is thought to have been heading, with the White House or Capitol Hill possible terrorist targets.
From the footage of the most recent flight that I saw, I was impressed that the Israelis on the flight took immediate action and saved everyone from death. I am going to posit that most of the Israelis on that plane had served in the Israel Defense Force at some time in their past. That training is probably what saved the day.
It has been the belief of this blog for many years that the United States asks too little of its citizens. There is no reason all of us cannot serve our country for one or two years at some time in the early part of our lives. Both my wife and I did and we did not have to go through basic training to serve. We were in the US Public Health Service at the NIH.
Thus, service to the United States does not have to be in the military as it is for most Israelis, men and women, although the esprit de corps developed by compulsory military service in Israel tends to bind the country’s people together and allows Israelis from all walks of life to meet their countrymen and women from other walks of life on equal footing. This is a good thing for patriotism and the survival of the Jewish state.
Israel is a small country in a hostile neighborhood. Without universal military service, Israel would have been conquered by surrounding armies long ago. It’s not like their neighbors didn’t try. That the Orthodox Jewish men of Israel refuse to serve is a large bone of contention among the rest of the population. Should Netanyahu lose the coming election, and his coalition that includes the Orthodox parties be of less consequence, the exempt status of the Orthodox young men may well change.
But look at the video that has already come in from the flight. It is not hard to imagine that the FlyDubai plane might have suffered the fate of United 93 had there not been pilots on board as well as brave, action-oriented Israelis.
The coming days will undoubtedly bring explanations from investigations about how the attacker boarded the plane with a knife, how he became a co-pilot for FlyDubai, what due diligence and background checks were done, and what his motives were. As of now, this is being considered an act of terrorism, as it should be. The only real question is who was behind it?
But in a time when so many are willing to bash Israel simply for defending itself against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the world of antisemites, this was one of those days of Jewish triumph.
Am Yisrael chai!
