Among the passengers of Flydubai Flight 1073 on Sept. 30 were Israelis returning to Israel to mark the third anniversary of Oct. 7. Little did they know, their flight nearly became one of the worst terrorist attacks in Israels history.
Three years ago, on Oct. 7 2023, Hamas terrorists launched the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Hamas stormed across Israels border, slaughtering roughly 1,200 people, murdering families in their homes and young people at a music festival. They took 251 men, women, and children hostage into Gaza.
Oct. 7 was not simply an attack on Israel. sought to shatter Israels sense of security, terrorize Jews around the world and destroy the possibility of a different Middle East. They wanted to turn the Arab world against Israel and make peace between Israel and its neighbors impossible.
Documents captured by the IDF in the Gaza Strip show that Hamas closely monitored efforts to advance normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Oct. 7 was meant, in part, to derail that process. Hamas succeeded in delaying it, but it failed to destroy the broader framework of peace and cooperation that Israel had built with its Arab neighbors.
Three years later, Flight 1073 was another attempt to strike at that same reality. The idea that an Israeli family could board a plane in Dubai on a Jewish holiday and fly home to Israel was once unimaginable. Today, it is part of a new Middle East, one in which Israelis and Arabs travel, trade and build relationships across borders.
That is precisely the reality that terrorism sought to destroy. As Flight 1073 flew over, its terrorist co-pilot stabbed the captain and attempted to seize control of the aircraft. He sent the plane into a drastic dive, with the apparent intention of crashing the aircraft and its 174 passengers into Ben Gurion International Airport.
Neither Oct. 7 nor Flight 1073 could break the Israeli spirit of resilience.
On the morning of Oct.7, Israeli civilians left their homes and fought Hamas terrorists with their bare hands to protect their families and communities. On Flight 1073, heroic passengers likewise rushed the cockpit, putting their own lives on the line to stop the terrorist and save everyone on board.
They were defending more than themselves. They were defending the possibility of a different future, one in which Israel is secure, connected to its neighbors and at peace.
We have continued to see this Israeli resilience in the years following October 7.
has rebuilt its security posture. Hamas has been severely weakened, Hezbollahs military capabilities have been substantially degraded, and Israel has established new security realities in Gaza and along its northern border. The threats have not disappeared, but the strategic environment Israel faces today is fundamentally different from the one it faced on three years ago.
We also never stopped fighting for our hostages. Three years after Oct. 7, they all came home. Our efforts included bringing former captives to the United Nations Security Council to advocate for the immediate release of the remaining hostages.
In January, Israel announced that the final hostage, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, had been identified and returned for burial. We thank the Trump administration for helping
