Among the passengers of Flydubai Flight 1073 on Sept.30 were Israelis returning to Israel to mark the third anniversary of Oct.
7.Little did they know, their flight nearly became one of the worst terrorist attacks in Israel’s history.Three years ago, on Oct.
7 2023, Hamas terrorists launched the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.Hamas stormed across Israel’s border, slaughtering roughly 1,200 people, murdering families in their homes and young people at a music festival.They took 251 men, women, and children hostage into Gaza.HAMAS ALLEGEDLY BUILT WEAPONS DEPOTS ACROSS EUROPE, PLANNED TERROR ATTACKS AS OCT 7 ANNIVERSARY NEAREDPassengers who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, during a flight on FlyDubai plane, arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept.
30, 2026.(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) ( )Oct.
7 was not simply an attack on Israel.Hamas sought to shatter Israel’s sense of security, terrorize Jews around the world and destroy the possibility of a different Middle East.
They wanted to turn the Arab world against Israel and make peace between Israel and its neighbors impossible.Documents captured by the IDF in the Gaza Strip show that Hamas closely monitored efforts to advance normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.Oct.
7 was meant, in part, to derail that process.Hamas succeeded in delaying it, but it failed to destroy the broader framework of peace and cooperation that Israel had built with its Arab neighbors.Three years later, Flight 1073 was another attempt to strike at that same reality.
The idea that an Israeli family could board a plane in Dubai on a Jewish holiday and fly home to Israel was once unimaginable.Today, it is part of a new Middle East, one in which Israelis and Arabs travel, trade and build relationships across borders.That is precisely the reality that terrorism sought to destroy.
As Flight 1073 flew over Saudi Arabia, its terrorist co-pilot stabbed ...