Lapid says nothing ‘resembling’ flydubai incident mentioned in Netanyahu security briefing

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says this morning’s possible attack aboard a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv was not among the threats raised in a security briefing he received from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night, after Netanyahu said yesterday there were indications Israel’s enemies could attempt attacks ahead of the October 27 election.

Lapid, who demanded an urgent security briefing following Netanyahu’s warning and later met with the premier, says no such threat was raised during their meeting.

“Nothing even remotely resembling this morning’s plane incident came up in the security briefing with the prime minister last night. Nothing similar, nothing reminiscent of it, not even a hint,” the opposition leader says, after some on the right claimed the prime minister was justified in raising the alarm in light of this morning events.

Opposition figures had accused the prime minister yesterday of creating alarm without justification, with some claiming he sought to undermine the coming election. Security officials told Hebrew meda outlets they had no knowledge of a specific attack threat. After meeting Netanyahu last night, Lapid accused the premier of unnecessarily alarming the public and using security issues for election campaigning.

“The whole spin that the mouthpieces are pushing now only proves what was already clear yesterday — that once again they are trying to play cheap politics at the expense of Israel’s security. An irresponsible bunch,” Lapid says.

Democrats chairman Yair Golan praises the passengers, saying their “extraordinary resourcefulness and courage” prevented a major disaster, while accusing the government of trying to exploit the incident for political gain.

“I have contempt for the disgraceful attempts by the ‘Hamas is an asset’ government to play cheap politics at the expense of this heroism,” Golan says.