The flydubai terror attack succeeded - opinion

Columnist Ben Caspit argues that the attempted downing of a flydubai plane by a radicalized Omani pilot should be classified as a successful terror attack, citing systemic failures in Israeli security agencies, political leadership, and the Transportation Ministry under Miri Regev. He draws parallels to the 2002 Mombasa attack, which was internally logged as a success despite the plane surviving due to luck. Caspit criticizes the appointment of a political crony as ministry director-general and the lack of accountability following the incident.

Columnist Ben Caspit argues that the attempted downing of a flydubai plane by a radicalized Omani pilot should be classified as a successful terror attack, citing systemic failures across Israeli security agencies and political leadership. The pilot, whom Oman grounded for becoming radicalized and whom Morocco barred from flying due to his extremist Islamist views, was able to fly hundreds of Israelis to Israel. Caspit criticizes Transportation Minister Miri Regev for appointing a personal associate, Moshe Ben Zaken, as director-general of the ministry, whose career experience peaked with managing the "Likudiada" event. He notes that State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned two years ago about the need to reexamine security arrangements for foreign aircraft entering Israel, but the warning was ignored. Caspit draws parallels to the 2002 Mombasa attack on an Arkia plane, which was internally logged as a successful attack despite the plane surviving due to the terrorists' incompetence. He calls on Shin Bet Director David Zini, Mossad chief Roman Gofman, and Regev to acknowledge their failures. The column uses loaded language and emotional framing to argue that the incident represents a major failure.