Desperate for re-election, Netanyahu is flooding the zone with his narrative of a foiled “jihadi terror” attack
When Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud ally and Defense Minister Israel Katz instantly blamed “jihadist terror” for the FlyDubai incident, in which Israeli passengers on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv supposedly stormed the cockpit to prevent the flight from crashing, they drowned out an initial assessment by IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and his top commanders that ruled out hijacking as the motive behind the altercation.
The following day, Saudi and Emirati state media were still avoiding reference to the incident as a terror attack. They seemed to be awaiting the outcome of the Saudi interrogation of the co-pilot who allegedly stabbed the pilot, and the investigation of his motives.
President Donald Trump was entertaining doubts of his own, describing the stabber as "perhaps a terrorist or a wack job." After recounting Netanyahu’s narrative of the event, Trump remarked, "This is the story that I heard. I don't know if it's true.”
Netanyahu is determined to consolidate the story he spun out moments after the in-air melee was first reported. And he's merging it with the theatrical message he delivered the day before, when he stood before an F-35 and warned of imminent attacks from Israel's enemies.
Shaiel Ben-Ephraim@academic_la
"We have signs that before the elections, our enemies will try to attack us." Netanyahu is clearly planning a military distraction to help influence or cancel the elections, using the air force as a prop for his scheme.
But as one of his rivals, Yair Lapid, pointed out, Netanyahu said nothing in that warning about hijackings or any potential aerial "terror."
The FlyDubai incident materialized as Netanyahu weathered a barrage of bad press about his negligence on October 7, 2023. In the midst of his most consequential and likely final campaign for re-election, he is essentially taking credit for an Entebbe sequel, stopping the terrorist in the cockpit, and preventing a 9/11-style attack on Tel Aviv's Azrieli Center.
The timing of the whole event was unbelievably fortuitous for Israel’s embattled PM. Which might be why so few outside his circle of sycophants believe his version of it.
Source: https://thegrayzone.substack.com
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