Sept 30, 2026. A co-pilot took an axe to his captain and tried to dive a plane full of Israelis into the ground. Here is what happened, how the press described it, and who decided the Jews faked it.
On air, say "Flydubai," not Southwest. It was a Dubai airline. The captain was Indian; the attacker was Omani.
Times are Israel time (GMT+3), from Flightradar24 data as reported by the BBC.
Took axe wounds to the head and hands, kept fighting, and got the reinforced door open from inside. Without that, nobody gets in. Netanyahu: "he saved the lives of 174 people." His interview with CNN: "I couldn't let everybody else die."
Tali Manes heard it first. Her husband Tzvika Manes, Asaf Rajuan, Yaniv Hayun (a plumber, who leveled the plane using what he'd learned watching the TV show Mayday) and Dr. Shota Musayev (a dentist) went through that door. Ordinary Israelis on their way home.
Notice: no "special ops on board." That line in the conspiracy posts is invented. It was a plumber and a dentist.
Flydubai pilots riding as passengers took the controls and landed a damaged jet at Tabuk.
"Fight," "clash," "brawl," "altercation." Every one of those words means two sides going at each other. One man swung an axe at another man's head and pointed a plane full of families at the ground. That is not a fight. That is an attack.
The hijack code was public on flight trackers within minutes. Passenger videos of blood in the cabin were online right after landing. Many outlets kept the "fight" language for hours after that.
"A plane flying from Dubai to Israel was diverted after an altercation between the pilot and co-pilot, Israeli officials said."
Posted to X at 1:08 pm Israel time. Hit with a Community Note. Its live blog ran for hours as "Flight to Israel Is Diverted After Pilots Clash in Cockpit" and called it a "bloody clash between two pilots," while the same coverage reported he stabbed the captain and "apparently attempted to crash the plane."
A later Times piece told readers that "two far-right Israeli government ministers" called it terrorism, and floated that he may have just wanted to kill himself along with everyone aboard. (So did the 9/11 hijackers.)
When criticized, NYT PR said: "Unlike activists and partisans, we don't publish speculation or unverified information." This is the paper that ran Hamas's al-Ahli hospital claim in 2023 and then admitted it "relied too heavily on claims by Hamas."
URL as first published: "…flydubai-flight-tel-aviv-diverted-saudi-arabia-after-onboard-altercation"
The headline was later rewritten to "Pilot on Tel Aviv-bound flight tried to crash plane after cockpit stabbing, Netanyahu says." The URL still shows the original. Even the corrected one hangs it on "Netanyahu says."
"Flydubai crew member diverted plane after cockpit altercation, airline says"
Live blog post. CNN kept "violent altercation" while reporting the stabbing and the plunge. Same live blog ran a sidebar on previous incidents "in which fights have broken out between crew members", including two Air France pilots exchanging "inappropriate gestures." That is the frame: a workplace spat.
"physical altercation between the pilots"
Its early wording, per Arutz Sheva and HonestReporting. The BBC also called Ben Gurion Airport "Ben Gvir Airport."
"apparent brawl"
Still using it in a later live-blog summary that also said one pilot stabbed the other and tried to crash the plane. The Guardian defended itself on X: it includes only verifiable facts and doesn't speculate.
"got into a fight mid-flight"
"apparent pilot fight"
"cockpit brawl"
"A pilot brawl, then a rapid descent: passengers recount chaos on flydubai flight"
URL as first published: "…israel-flight-diverted-saudi-arabia-brawl-pilots-flydubai"
Now reads "Passengers overcame pilot who tried to crash Flydubai flight, Israel says."
"Israel says pilot tried to crash flydubai plane during cockpit fight"
Original URL: "…diverted-to-saudi-arabia-after-alleged-dispute-between-"
Worth saying on air. It makes the point stronger, not weaker: this is a newsroom reflex, not one party's problem.
"FlyDubai cockpit altercation investigated as possible attack on Israelis"
Live blog title. Its first article URL: "…flydubai-pilots-reportedly-fight-cockpit-triggering-hijacking-fears."
"Israel-Bound Flight Diverted to Saudi Arabia After 'Brawl' Between Pilots"
At least it put "brawl" in scare quotes.
"Tel Aviv flight drops thousands of feet after pilot stabbed in alleged terror attack"
"FlyDubai co-pilot stabbed captain, tried to crash flight to Israel after 'radical indoctrination,' Netanyahu says"
"Pilot stabbed another in bid to crash Israel-bound Flydubai jet: Netanyahu"
When Qatar's state broadcaster writes a clearer headline than the New York Times, the Times has a problem.
The very first word "fight" did not come from the newsrooms alone. Flydubai's own statement said "altercation," and the first reports quoted Israeli officials saying a fight broke out between the pilots. Even Israel's Ynet ran "pilots brawl in cockpit" early on.
So the honest charge is not "they made up the word." It's this: by early afternoon the stabbing, the hijack code and the plunge were all known, and they kept calling it a fight. Caution is fine for what you don't know. It doesn't excuse watering down what you do know.
What an accurate headline looked like that afternoon: "Co-pilot stabs captain, tries to crash Israel-bound jet; passengers storm cockpit." Nothing speculative in it.
A man with al-Qaeda's leader on his social media takes an axe to a pilot and dives a plane full of Israeli kids at the ground. Within 67 minutes of the emergency signal, the first post saying Israel faked it was up.
CAM's researcher: "It's clear this isn't a narrative that forms in response to an incident. Rather, it's part of a script that already exists, sitting ready for use whenever opportunities arise."
About 7 million YouTube subscribers. Her exact words (clip, 69 sec):
"If there was a terror attack meant to victimize Israel, well, why would the co-pilot do what he did two hours and 20 minutes into the flight when it takes three hours and 30 minutes to travel from Dubai to Israel? … Just yesterday, Netanyahu was saying that the Iranians are going to carry out some sort of attack against Israel ahead of the Israeli elections. And everyone was saying, uh-oh, here comes the false flag. Now, look, I'm not saying that this is a false flag. I don't know yet. I think it's fishy."
Earlier in the segment (per Twitchy's transcript): "I don't trust the Israelis. I wouldn't trust the Israelis with anything." And: "Immediately jumping to the conclusion that the copilot is a jihadi. Doesn't make sense to me. Citation, please."
The answer to her "timing" point: he struck over Saudi Arabia near Jordan. He told investigators he meant to hit Ben Gurion. The plane didn't reach Israel because a captain and a plumber stopped him, not because he got the timing wrong. And the "citation" she asked for? Al-Zawahiri on his social media, an Oman Air extremism flag, and the UAE calling it terrorism.
Careful on air: the viral tweet says she called it a false flag. She said "I'm not saying that this is a false flag." Quote her exact words; they're bad enough.
Posted at 3:11 pm Israel time, the same day. 2.4 million views, 97,000 likes, 18,800 reposts. A bullet list ending in:
"> Attempted hijacking & 9/11-style terrorist attack on flight
> Israeli special ops on board thwart attack
> Netanyahu immediately convenes security cabinet meeting
All too predictable…"
The "special ops" were a plumber and a dentist.
Did an hour on it Oct 1. Called the timing "unbelievably beneficial, unbelievably fortuitous for Benjamin Netanyahu," said "there's a lot of red flags," and questioned whether the reported dive was even possible (ADL). Stopped short of saying "false flag." His YouTube upload is titled "The Israeli Flight Hijacking Doesn't Make Sense."
"Looking like a psyop so far." "Even Trump knows this is BS." (ADL, Sept 30)
Called it "false flag terrorism" to his Rumble audience of about 700,000 (ADL).
Ran a "just asking questions" video with "clues"; 92% of 36,000 poll voters on his channel said it was staged (Jewlicious).
Kasparian and Piker are the progressive left. Hinkle calls himself MAGA-communist. Fuentes and Sneako are the online right. They agree on almost nothing, and they all landed on the same conclusion in the same 24 hours: the Jews did it to themselves. That's not politics. That's the old poison.
A small account posted "Candace Owens now claims" it was a false flag. I could not find her own words. Don't use this on air unless you have her clip.
Folder: Podcast/Clips/FlyDubai-1073/