The circumstances surrounding the "Flydubai" plane incident, what happened in the cockpit as a struggle unfolded between the Indian pilot and his Omani co-pilot, what was said about a "heroic" role played by one of the passengers, and the plane's subsequent safe landing at a Saudi airport, all factors that pushed conspiracy theory to the forefront of analysis, particularly in Arab media spaces.
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Even before investigations into the incident were complete, proponents of this theory were already promoting the idea that Israeli intelligence services were behind this fabricated operation, to give Netanyahu the pretext to launch an attack on Iran, cast as the prime suspect in the attempt to bring the plane down.
The truth is that the timing of the incident, and the dramatic events it involved, lend significant weight to the theory of an orchestrated plot. Netanyahu, as his opponents say, the latest being former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, is seeking to manufacture crises or security incidents to delay elections, given that public opinion polls indicate his coalition won't be able to secure the majority needed to form a government.
Yet all the available motives for the conspiracy theory remain merely a preference among Arab circles unwilling to pin an act of terrorism like this on Arab names or states engaged in confrontation with Israel.
The debate over classifying this kind of operation isn't new; it goes back decades, when hijacking civilian aircraft was once a common approach, before we later witnessed a form of suicide operation like bombing passenger buses. Under popular and international pressure, especially after the September 11 attacks, no one has dared carry out operations stigmatized as terrorism on various levels.
Returning to the plane incident, the results of subsequent Saudi and Emirati investigations wasted no time in revealing important aspects of what had initially been mere speculation and conjecture. It was established that the Omani co-pilot attacked the Indian pilot with a "fire axe" and stabbed him multiple times. Later, Emirati prosecutors confirmed that the Omani co-pilot sought to carry out a terrorist operation.
This classification aligned with confirmed intelligence information from official sources indicating that this co-pilot had been barred from working in aviation in his own country due to his extremist, hardline views, and that he had spent several years in Syria. Residing in a country like Syria over the past years is, in itself, reasonable cause for suspicion against anyone.
Given all this information, the conspiracy theory appears entirely far-fetched, and completely illogical. Who says Netanyahu, whose army hasn't stopped launching daily strikes in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria, needs a pretext to resume his wars?
It's true the matter is different with regard to Iran, which remains an open front for a war likely to flare up with greater intensity after the US midterm elections.
But dismissing the conspiracy theory doesn't diminish the incident's significance for Netanyahu. In fact, what happened fits, in both meaning and form, the saying that attempts to bring down a plane carrying more than 150 Israelis amount to a gift from the sky for Netanyahu's election campaign.
Netanyahu's approach to winning the election is built on amplifying the idea of a danger surrounding Israelis from every direction, and that the existential war is not yet over, and that winning it fully and completely requires a leader like Netanyahu.
The incident serves this approach perfectly, which is why Netanyahu sought to exploit it in the media as much as he could; he took center stage from the very first moment, welcomed the passengers upon their return, and promoted the video of the passenger who claimed for himself a heroic role in saving the plane.
In this sense alone, the "Flydubai" plane incident is a free gift for Netanyahu, not an orchestrated conspiracy.
