From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 5, 2026
Ofer Winter echoes opposition attacks on government for flydubai failures, still backs PM
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
After days of opposition leaders assailing the government over both its failure to prevent last week’s flydubai attack and its refusal to take responsibility, People of Israel party chairman Ofer Winter — who has firmly aligned his party with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — levels strikingly similar criticism.
Speaking near Ben Gurion Airport on the national day of remembrance for the October 7 massacre, Winter declares that “three years after the horrific massacre, it seems that the State of Israel refuses to learn the lesson.”
Like opposition leaders in recent days, the leader of the right-wing party draws a direct line between the Hamas-led 2023 attacks and the flydubai incident, arguing that in both cases civilians were forced to avert disaster in the wake of state incompetence while political leadership deflects blame.
“This is what the ‘conception’ looks like, and unfortunately it is still very much alive and well, no matter what they tell you. Anyone who doesn’t want to investigate won’t want to fix things either,” he says. “Anyone who doesn’t take responsibility won’t provide a solution.”
Winter casts himself as the answer, reiterating his ambition to serve as defense minister — seemingly under Netanyahu — and pledging a new security doctrine that includes “knocking our enemies’ heads down before they raise them” and ensuring that combat soldiers “always come before enemy civilians and before any other extraneous consideration.”
The remarks highlight a central tension in Winter’s campaign: despite portraying the country’s current leadership as failed, incompetent and negligent, he has repeatedly insisted that he will recommend only Netanyahu for prime minister and has ruled out joining a government led by Netanyahu’s chief rival, Gadi Eisenkot, and his centrist Yashar party, or any of the other parties opposed to Netanyahu’s leadership.
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