Ben Gvir says alleged flydubai attack shows Israel must intensify regional campaigns

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says this morning’s alleged attack aboard a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv shows that Israel must intensify its military campaigns across the region.

“Thank God and the heroic passengers, but Israel’s security doctrine must be taken to the next level,” Ben Gvir says, adding that “we must not stop and must continue until achieving total victory in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and Judea and Samaria,” referring to the biblical name for the West Bank.

The circumstances of this morning’s incident remain unclear, but people on board the plane have said that passengers intervened to thwart an apparent attempt by one of the pilots to crash the plane, which was carrying some 180 Israelis. The flight was diverted and landed safely in Saudi Arabia.

There is no indication at this point that the incident was guided by any organization or state.

“The naive belief that our enemies cherish life and should be shown mercy received another reminder this morning,” the Otzma Yehudit leader adds. “Terrorism is an evil with which no agreement should be reached other than defeating it and wiping it off the face of the earth.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich similarly says that “anyone who tried to bring down a plane and murder 180 Israelis should pay as though they had murdered them — as should any country or terrorist organization that sent them.”

Meanwhile, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz says its “still too early to know the sequence of events” aboard the flight, while praising the passengers’ “resourcefulness and courage” in the face of danger.