Flydubai attack gives Netanyahu new security message ahead of Israel vote

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.

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”.

Political gain

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.”

Persecution

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.

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.