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. 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”.
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’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 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 Netan
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