Katz Calls Flydubai Flight Incident a Jihadist Terror Attempt
The claim follows a mid-air altercation between pilots that diverted one Dubai-Tel Aviv flight to Saudi Arabia and sent a second back to Dubai.
Published
Israeli defence minister Katz has called an incident aboard a flydubai flight an attempted jihadist terror attack.
A flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted to Saudi Arabia after a mid-air altercation between its pilots, according to Flightradar24 tracking. A second flight on the same route, FZ1081, reversed course back to Dubai hours later.
Katz's description of the episode as a jihadist attack attempt is his own characterization. It comes ahead of Israel's October 27 election, after Prime Minister Netanyahu said on September 29 that the country's enemies could try attacks before the vote. An Israeli security source said the same day there was no concrete link between the election and any escalation.
Katz's framing brings the risk of attack directly into commercial aviation, an area that has so far stood apart from a regional risk picture built mostly around Iran, Lebanon and the West Bank. If the framing holds, it raises questions about the safety of flights into Tel Aviv at a moment when Netanyahu has already flagged election-period attack risk, even as a security source has downplayed any direct tie between the vote and escalation. The incident itself points to no physical disruption to oil supply of the kind that has moved crude prices in this cycle, so its bearing on oil markets looks limited unless aviation security concerns broaden further.