Pilot stabbing on flydubai flight scrambles Israeli elections - Semafor

The narrowly-avoided catastrophe aboard a flydubai flight has electrified Israel’s highly polarized election debate, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming vindication, and his opponents drawing parallels to the government’s pre-Oct. 7 security failures.

With less than a month remaining before Israelis vote, Netanyahu’s allies said he warned of exactly such a pre-election “attack” from the country’s “enemies” — claims that Israel’s opposition leader called “a pathetic attempt to hitch a ride on the heroism of Israelis who prevented a disaster that [Netanyahu], once again, was unprepared for.”

Other critics argued that if the government was expecting such attacks, it should have prevented the pilot stabbing rather than relying on civilians’ intervention. “It’s exactly like October 7,” a former prime minister said.