Terror Attack Aboard Flydubai Flight Should Not Derail Abraham Accords Peace Process
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Don’t Let Flydubai Terror Scare Derail Abraham Accords Progress | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." October 2, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author argues that after a Muslim co-pilot allegedly tried to crash a plane full of Israelis, the right response is to double down on peace deals between Israel and Arab nations, not pull back. He says terrorists want to stop peace, and giving in to that fear would hand them a win, especially since similar attacks failed to derail progress before.
Conclusion
Despite the attempted terrorist hijacking of Flydubai Flight 1073, Israel and Arab states must continue and even expand the Abraham Accords peace process rather than cancel flights or downgrade diplomatic ties.
Premises
- Terrorists' primary goal is to prevent peace, so yielding to terror by abandoning diplomatic progress would mean the terrorists succeed in their objective.
- The Abraham Accords survived and even strengthened after the much larger shock of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and subsequent Gaza war, demonstrating resilience.
- Iran's regional aggression against Gulf states (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait) has clarified that the real threat to Sunni Arab states is Tehran, not Israel, aligning their strategic interests with Israel.
- High-level diplomatic momentum was occurring just before the attack, including Netanyahu's meeting with representatives from eight Arab countries and a historic bilateral meeting with the UAE president, suggesting the attack may have been timed to disrupt this progress.
- Saudi Arabia was reportedly close to normalization with Israel before Hamas's October 7 attack specifically to derail that process, yet the long-term trajectory toward peace continued despite this setback.
- The heroic response of pilots, passengers, and crew aboard the flight exemplifies the kind of courage and resolve that should characterize the broader response to terrorism.
Assumptions
- Continuing diplomatic normalization is inherently more effective at reducing terrorism than suspending or scaling back relations.
- The attempted hijacking was likely terrorism connected to broader efforts to derail Israeli-Arab peace, rather than an isolated criminal or personal act.
- Arab Gulf states share Israel's assessment that Iran, not Israel, is the primary regional threat.
- Past resilience of the Accords after October 7 is a reliable predictor of future resilience after this incident.
- Security improvements (e.g., enhanced pilot vetting) can adequately address the underlying safety concerns without requiring diplomatic retreat.
- The symbolic and strategic value of continuing peace talks outweighs the risks of future attacks that may specifically target this diplomatic process.