Opposition leaders hail flydubai passengers, accuse government of exploiting incident for political gain

Opposition leaders praise the Israeli passengers who reportedly intervened during this morning’s incident aboard a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, while accusing the government and its allies of seeking to exploit the incident for political gain.

Democrats leader Yair Golan praises the passengers, saying their “extraordinary resourcefulness and courage” prevented a major disaster, but has “contempt for the disgraceful attempts by the ‘Hamas is an asset’ government to play cheap politics at the expense of this heroism.”

Government allies have pointed to the incident following Netanyahu’s warning yesterday of unspecified security threats, which Opposition Leader Yair Lapid dismissed at the time as an attempt to score political points. Lapid has since said that nothing resembling this morning’s incident was included in the security assessment he received from Netanyahu.

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman similarly praises the passengers for taking control of the situation under “immense pressure and immediate danger,” while accusing government supporters and political operatives of trying to turn the incident into “political capital.”

“While people were fighting for their lives, they were looking for a way to manufacture spin,” he says, but adds that “nothing is surprising anymore when it comes to [this] government.”

B’Yachad leader Naftali Bennett focuses on the passengers’ bravery, saying: “Where else in the world is there a people whose citizens calmly overpower an armed attacker thousands of meters in the air as the plane is plunging, and save the lives of 180 people? We’re waiting for you at home.”