A few thoughts about the narrowly averted disaster aboard the flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv today: 1. There were multiple failures here, including that the co-pilot and apparent perpetrator wasn't flagged in advance and that he was able to conceal and use a weapon of some sort to attack the captain while they were locked in the cockpit. 2. Flydubai is a government-owned airline and this incident is deeply embarrassing to both the airline and the UAE government. Emirati authorities will do everything in their considerable power to investigate what happened and prevent it from reoccurring. 3. The UAE is the only country in the world, aside from Israel, whose airlines have flown to and from Israel almost without interruption since October 7, 2023. The UAE has proven to be a deeply committed friend of Israel's and the Emiratis ascribe tremendous importance to both the bilateral relationship between the two countries and the maintenance of the air link between them. Flydubai's Tel Aviv route is one of the airline's busiest and most frequent, with up to ten daily flights in each direction. All of this reinforces the previous point: the Emiratis will do whatever they can to prevent this from happening again. 4. The only reason everyone on the plane is alive is because of the Israeli passengers who decided to take matters into their own hands, break into the cockpit, subdue the perpetrator, and enable the plane to land safely. This is a tremendous testament to their heroism and bravery and to the Israeli spirit that has shown itself throughout Israel's existence and particularly during the past three years. 5. A word of appreciation for Saudi authorities, who—by all accounts—handled this incident with great professionalism, coordinated closely with Israeli authorities, and treated the passengers with courtesy and care. I am surely not the only Israeli who breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the plane had landed in Saudi Arabia. I'm not sure that would have been the case just a few years ago.