The attempted hijacking of a Flydubai passenger jet carrying Israelis came frighteningly close to triggering one of the most extreme emergency scenarios contemplated by Israel’s security establishment: a prime minister being forced to decide whether to shoot down a civilian aircraft packed with passengers before it could be deliberately crashed into an Israeli population center.
According to a report by Channel 14 diplomatic correspondent Tamir Morag, Israel maintains a highly classified operational protocol for precisely such a scenario. Military censorship prohibits publication of the protocol’s classified codename, but the procedures are reportedly drilled throughout the relevant levels of Israel’s security establishment.
Under the protocol, according to the report, the authority to order the destruction of a hijacked civilian aircraft rests exclusively with the prime minister.
Such an order would only become relevant if Israeli authorities determined that an aircraft was being deliberately flown toward Israeli territory with the intention of causing a mass-casualty attack on the ground.
The procedure reportedly begins with an Israeli Air Force fighter approaching the suspicious aircraft closely enough to visually inspect the cockpit. Radio communications alone cannot necessarily be trusted during a hijacking because pilots could be speaking while under direct threat.
A second fighter would meanwhile remain behind the aircraft, prepared to act if necessary.
The overriding objective throughout the process is to exhaust every available option to divert the aircraft and force it to land safely.
At the same time, Israeli military systems would continuously calculate the aircraft’s speed and trajectory, interceptor and missile speeds, and the expected location and radius of falling wreckage if the aircraft had to be destroyed.
The prime minister would remain in secure communication with senior Israeli Air Force commanders inside the Kirya command center throughout the crisis.
According to Channel 14, if all attempts to divert the aircraft failed and authorities reached near-certainty that it was headed toward an Israeli city for a deliberate crash, the situation would reach what is described operationally as the “PNR” — “Point of No Return.”
At that moment, the prime minister could face the horrifying decision of whether to authorize an air-to-air missile strike against the passenger aircraft in order to prevent potentially far greater casualties on the ground.
The nightmare scenario never materialized during Wednesday’s Flydubai incident.
Passengers aboard Flight FZ1073 managed to overpower the alleged attacker after the captain was stabbed and the aircraft began plunging toward the ground. Control of the plane was restored, and it was ultimately diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, without entering Israeli airspace.
Israeli authorities have since formally classified the incident as a terrorist attack. Security officials say the leading theory is that the Omani copilot acted alone and intended to crash the aircraft, although the investigation remains underway and officials have said there is currently no clear evidence that Iran directed the attack.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
