Flydubai cockpit attack: Abraham Accords must survive terrorism, columnist argues
An Omani co-pilot stabbed his Indian captain and attempted to crash Flydubai Flight 1073 to Tel Aviv. Toronto Sun Crime reports the Abraham Accords must not be derailed.
Flydubai cockpit attack fails to halt Abraham Accords momentum
An Omani co-pilot stabbed the captain of Flydubai Flight 1073 and attempted to send the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv aircraft into a fatal nosedive, triggering a dramatic mid-air struggle that ended in an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. As Toronto Sun Crime columnist Josh Hammer argues, the incident must not be used as a pretext to suspend the landmark 2020 Abraham Accords.
The pilot, identified as Indian national Smit Machchhar, was stabbed badly enough to bleed profusely but managed to open the cockpit door as the plane plunged at roughly 10,000 feet per minute. Ordinary passengers, led by Israeli civilian Yaniv Hayoun, then rushed the cockpit and subdued the co-pilot with a chokehold. Two off-duty pilots — reportedly British, South African or New Zealander in nationality — took over the controls and brought the aircraft down safely.
The Emirati cabin crew maintained order throughout the emergency, preventing panic amongst the passengers. Israeli activist Hillel Fuld quoted a military pilot on X who noted that, in almost every historical case where an airliner approached those speeds, the tail section had separated from the aircraft.
Calls to suspend flights draw pushback
Some observers have called for the immediate cancellation of all direct flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates following the incident, and others have suggested a broader downgrading of Israel-Arab ties. Hammer, writing in the Toronto Sun, rejects that response. "Terror attacks and near-terror attacks must not derail peace," he writes. "To allow peace to be derailed is actually to do the terrorists' bidding."
The Abraham Accords — the 2020 normalisation agreements between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco — were widely expected to collapse after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. They did not. According to Hammer, the agreements have in fact strengthened, in part because Iranian strikes against Gulf states including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait have clarified for Sunni governments that their primary strategic threat originates in Tehran, not Jerusalem.
Netanyahu visit preceded the attack
Days before the cockpit assault, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Abu Dhabi, where he met representatives from eight Arab countries and held a bilateral meeting with Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed — the first such meeting to be publicly confirmed by both governments. Hammer suggests the timing of the attack relative to that diplomatic meeting may not be coincidental.
Speculation is also circulating, according to Hammer, that Kuwait could be the next country to join the Abraham Accords.
Saudi normalisation still on the horizon
Prior to October 7, 2023, Saudi Arabia was widely seen as close to its own normalisation deal with Israel. Netanyahu devoted a significant portion of his September 2023 address to the United Nations General Assembly to that prospect. Around the same time, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Fox News that normalisation was approaching: "Every day we get closer."
Hamas's October 7 offensive is described by Hammer as having been partly aimed at disrupting that Saudi-Israeli process — and in that narrow objective, he writes, it succeeded, at least temporarily. Nevertheless, Hammer argues that the political logic driving Riyadh towards normalisation remains intact.
Security review recommended
Hammer calls on Israeli authorities to consider reviewing aviation security procedures, including the possible vetting of commercial pilots on inbound and outbound Israeli routes. He stops short of recommending suspension of flights, however, arguing that continuing the peace process is the most meaningful response to the attack.
"There would be no greater tribute to the heroes of Flydubai Flight 1073," Hammer concludes.
Josh Hammer is a senior editor-at-large for Newsweek. This piece originally appeared in the Toronto Sun.
Source: Toronto Sun Crime