The world—and the Middle East in particular—woke up Thursday to more stories and images from the attempted terror attack on the Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv. Yet it appears that countries in the region, especially Gulf states, are trying to minimize the extraordinary event that unfolded in the skies. Mainstream media outlets in the West seem to do the same thing. The words “attack” or “terror” haven’t entered the terminology—it remains an “incident” or “deviation from route.”
In the UAE, newspapers are leaning on statements released by Flydubai over the past 24 hours: “The aircraft’s backup crew took responsibility for the ‘safe landing’ after taking control of the incident in the cockpit.” Another paper featured as its main headline news of the phone call UAE Foreign Minister made to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to inquire about the passengers’ wellbeing. In English-language papers, the “incident” also made the front pages.
In Saudi Arabia, the press relied on statements released by Tabuk Airport in northern Saudi Arabia, which received the passengers, emphasizing the humanitarian treatment given to them. One Saudi paper wrote: “Flydubai plane saved, and motives are conflicting.” Another wrote: “Passengers on the Flydubai flight left for their country. The company said the full reasons and motives for the incident are unknown and are under official investigation.”
In Oman, whose passport the attacker holds, media already avoided mentioning his origin yesterday—if they reported on the incident at all. This morning, the press decided to completely ignore the attempted attack and focus instead on yesterday’s visit by the UAE’s national security advisor and his meeting with the Omani sultan.
Breaking news: A plane flying from Dubai to Israel was diverted after an altercation between the pilot and co-pilot, Israeli officials said. https://t.co/VVuUXKUrPY
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 30, 2026
🔊 A Tel Aviv-bound Flydubai flight diverts to Saudi Arabia after the pilots get into a fight mid-air. Find out what happened on the Reuters World News podcast https://t.co/rki7roRgoP pic.twitter.com/W1RN7P8WEm
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 30, 2026
Left-wing media outlets in the West were no better. The New York Times referred to the stabbing of Indian co-pilot Smit Machchhar as an “altercation,” and the BBC and Reuters called it ‘a fight between pilots’ that led to the diversion of the flight to Saudi Arabia.