How newsrooms turned an attempted hijacking into a ‘brawl’ (and killed public trust)

Published October 3, 2026 6:00am ET



Imagine sitting on an airplane at 34,000 feet. Breakfast has been served. You are flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv with more than 170 other people, most of them Israelis.

Then the plane drops. Not turbulence. Not a little shake. It plunges thousands of feet. People scream. Something is happening near the cockpit. Eventually, passengers discover the horrifying truth: One pilot has stabbed the other and, according to Israeli officials, is attempting to crash the aircraft.

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