Netanyahu accused of election stunt over hijack scare
15:06, 01/10/2026, Thursday
Yeni Şafak
Yeni Şafak
A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv sent the emergency code "7700" and then the hijack code "7500" over Jordanian airspace, triggering panic in Israel. The plane, carrying 174 passengers, landed at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia. Israeli media gave conflicting accounts, while the opposition accused Netanyahu of staging an election maneuver.
A Flydubai passenger jet flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv sent the general emergency code "7700" and shortly afterward the hijack code "7500" while over Jordanian airspace, sparking a fresh 9/11-style panic in Israel. The aircraft, carrying 174 passengers including about 100 Israeli citizens, circled over Jordan for a time before being redirected to Saudi Arabia, where it landed at Tabuk in the kingdom's northwest.
Conflicting claims in Israeli media
Israeli outlets offered contradictory accounts of the incident. Some news channels claimed the co-pilot tried to bring the plane down, while others reported that a fight broke out between the Russian captain and his Ukrainian first officer, prompting the emergency declaration. A senior Israeli official told Kanal 12 that Tel Aviv was treating the episode as a terrorist attack and claimed "a major disaster was narrowly averted." Reports alleged that the co-pilot, described as an Omani national, stabbed the captain, after which cabin crew and some passengers broke down the cockpit door and intervened. Israel's Prime Minister's Office later said in a statement that the event was not a hijacking attempt.
Netanyahu convenes security cabinet, opposition cries election stunt
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned his Security Cabinet for an emergency meeting after the incident. The timing drew attention because it followed his visit to the UAE and his claim a day earlier that Israel faced preparations for a foreign attack. With parliamentary elections set for October 27, Israeli opposition leaders seized on the sequence of events, arguing Netanyahu was staging a political maneuver to avoid defeat at the polls.
Qatar's premier: Netanyahu is a war criminal
In a separate development, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani called Netanyahu a "war criminal" in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan. Al Thani said Doha had proposed a deal during the Gaza offensive that would have secured the release of all civilian hostages and had persuaded Hamas to accept it, but that Netanyahu rejected the offer.