Fly­dubai hijack­ing divides Israel’s squab­bling politi­cians dur­ing tough elec­tion sea­son

An attempt­ed hijack­ing of a Fly­dubai plane full of Israeli cit­i­zens has become a flash­point in the nation’s pol­i­tics as Prime Min­is­ter Ben­jamin Netanyahu claims cred­it for alert­ing the oppo­si­tion to the threat, while rivals claim he is exploit­ing the sit­u­a­tion for cam­paign pur­pos­es.

A pilot who Israeli offi­cials have iden­ti­fied as an Omani nation­al alleged­ly stabbed his co-pilot while fly­ing a plane full of Israeli cit­i­zens on Wednes­day morn­ing. Netanyahu said the pilot want­ed to crash the air­craft. Pas­sen­gers and crew mem­bers rushed the cock­pit and stopped the hijack­er before addi­tion­al crew mem­bers took con­trol and safe­ly land­ed in Sau­di Ara­bia.

Out­side of cam­paign sea­son, this type of inci­dent might have been a source of uni­ty for Israeli politi­cians as they con­front threats some offi­cials are alleg­ing to have been inspired by anti­semitism.

Peo­ple dis­em­bark from a Fly­Dubai plane car­ry­ing Israelis who expe …