A mysterious message, a secret envelope, a clandestine meeting, and an unnamed person hiding information to this day. All the ingredients of a spy thriller appeared in a theory that sparked uproar in recent days about a private plane that landed in Israel on September 26, 2023—just days before the October 7 massacre. But tonight (Wednesday), following a Kan News investigation, it turns out the sensational story looks far less dramatic: two Egyptian businessmen were on the plane, not the head of Egyptian intelligence.
1+The person who gave the mystery its most dramatic flair was Avi Gil, who in an interview about a week ago presented the plane’s landing as an event raising suspicion of concealed information. When asked if there was an Egyptian warning before the massacre, he answered confidently: “A plane belonging to Egyptian intelligence landed in the country and was here for a little over 60 minutes. That’s a fact. A plane like that doesn’t just show up.”
Gil didn’t stop there, continuing to detail possible scenarios: “Either someone arrived on it to meet with someone, or someone arrived on it to deliver something—a message, an envelope. Someone met with someone, or received something, and didn’t report it.” But the most dramatic part came at the end of his remarks, when he presented the possibility of ongoing concealment: “And if that happened, and it appears it did happen, it had to be reported. And whoever met or received is hiding it even today.”
1+Thus, from the landing of a private plane for about an hour, a scenario was built of a secret meeting, possible message transfer, and concealment of security information for three years. All this without any evidence presented of a mysterious meeting or an envelope that was passed.
According to reporting by Itay Blumenthal on Kan News, the plane was operated by the Egyptian charter company Smart Aviation, and two Egyptian businessmen arrived in Israel on board. After dropping off its passengers, the plane took off back to Egypt without passengers. The head of Egyptian intelligence at the time, Abbas Kamel, wasn’t on it at all.
This revelation casts a particularly ridiculous light on the confidence with which the various scenarios were presented. The mysterious envelope wasn’t found, the secret meeting wasn’t proven, and the person allegedly hiding information to this day remains in the realm of speculation. In fact, even the basic assumption on which the story was built—that the head of Egyptian intelligence arrived on that flight—is now contradicted by the new findings.