The heroes of Flight 1703 vs. The haters

This week, it was the biggest story in the world.

A Flydubai passenger jet was hijacked on its way to Israel early on Wednesday morning. One of the pilots had attacked the other pilot with a knife - and was trying to crash the plane. More than 170 people were aboard.

The Boeing 737 plunged toward Earth - dropping more than 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds. People started screaming and praying. Luggage flew out of bins. And, at the rear of the plane, parts of the rudder broke off. Any other plane, experts say, would have broken apart.

Somehow, the pilot - an Indian national, Captain Smit Machchhar - had managed to release a control switch, opening the locked door to the cockpit. Passengers could see him on the floor, covered in blood. Three of the passengers - a plumber, a dentist and a small businessman - scrambled to the front of the plane, wrestled the terrorist to the ground, and tied him up with headphone cables.

The plumber - Yaniv Hayun - grabbed the controls and tried to stabilize the plane. Two relief pilots had been aboard for the flight to Tel Aviv, and rushed into the cockpit to take over. Several anxious minutes later, they safely landed the jet in Saudi Arabia - where mostly-Muslim doctors, nurses and emergency personnel tended to the mostly-Israeli passengers.

It was like something out of a movie: a bloody hijack attempt, a heroic pilot and crew, courageous passengers and, at the end of the drama, two former enemies coming together in a crisis. No lives lost. There could not have been a happier ending.

So, the antisemites got to work.

As I detail in my new book The Hidden Hand, the forces of Jew-hatred never rest. Almost immediately, propagandists in the Middle East and around the world set about rewriting the story of Flydubai Flight 1703.

A sampling, found just on X:

• “It was Jewish terrorism just like 9/11 was.”

• “Sounds like a #TerroristIsraeli False Flag incident.”

• “Do they really think the Goys [non-Jews] believe this bs story for one second?”

• “Lying through their teeth…They don't even need training. They're born with it.”

• “Netanyahu expected to use this to stay in power, out of prison and escalate the war.”

• “This is 1000% a FALSE FLAG.”

• “Another pathetic victim card!!”

• “Everyone's mocking the comedic lie that Israel posted about the plane topic”

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