Arlene Kushner | October 6, 2026
IDF Spokesman
Yesterday was Israel’s official day for marking the horrors of October 7, 2023. Flags were lowered to half-mast at official cites all over the country, beginning at 6:30 AM, which is when the attack began. It was a day of mourning for those killed in the massacre and those who fell fighting in the war that followed.
The state memorial ceremony was held at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, while other ceremonies were held at a number of sites, including military bases, around the country.
The memory of what happened that day cannot be erased, nor should it be. The horrors – rapes, murders, mutilation, torture – inflicted upon our innocent people, including babies and children, bespeak a staggering inhumanity. This was pure evil; the perpetrators were actually proud of what they had done, which tells us a great deal. Some 1,200 of our people died in that attack.
Additionally, we lost close to 500 soldiers during the subsequent war in Gaza; thousands more of our soldiers were wounded. Our fighting forces have been extraordinary in their dedication and bravery. Prime Minister Netanyahu, in his address on Monday, described them as “giants in deed and giants in spirit.” That spirit is what ensures our success going forward.
“In Israel, we know whom we are fighting, and what we are fighting for.
“Against those who seek to annihilate us — and for the sake of securing our future. Securing the eternity of Israel.
“This understanding of our destiny will continue to accompany us as we face the challenges of the future.
“There are threats — and we will act against them.
“There will be tests — and with God’s help, we will withstand them…
“Our resilience rests upon the finest of our sons and daughters, who gave their lives for us.
“Our resilience rests upon the finest of our people, who act with courage and determination to secure the eternity of Israel.”
Unfortunately, there are many who comprehend neither the rightness of our cause or the justice of our battle, which is engaged with great morality. They choose not to understand that our fight against the evil of Islamism is a fight for the world, not just Israel. Netanyahu addressed this as well:
“Leaders around the world tell me: ‘You rose from the depths of the abyss of October 7. You dealt the Islamist fanatics a crushing blow. You gave humanity hope that the forces of darkness will be defeated. If only we, too, had such extraordinary young people.’
“But there are other leaders as well.
“To them — those who hurl false accusations at us hour after hour, who want to boycott us — I say:
“Israel is engaged in a War of Redemption. There is no war more necessary, and no war more just.
“That is the truth.”
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Netanyahu vowed that there would be no Hamas rule in Gaza.
Additionally he said that everyone involved in the attack against us, everyone involved in the holding of hostages, is living on borrowed time.
“We will reach them, just as we reached others.”
My friends, this is not inflated rhetoric. It may take years, but we get those who have committed crimes against us. There are also those from the Nukhba (Hamas fighting forces, involved in October 7) who were captured alive and not killed because they were valuable in securing intelligence; they are now in our prisons.
According to Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence, some 6,000 people from Gaza invaded Israel on October 7. We have killed 4,000 of these. “There are 2,000 remaining and we will get every last one.”
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-910632
It is difficult to secure a precise number of those who are Nukhba being held in our prisons – many hundreds, certainly.
What is being planned for them is a trial – or series of trials – made available in real time to the public so that people might better grasp the enormity of what transpired on October 7. It may be the better part of a year or more until trials are held; plans are still being set in place. It has been determined that special tribunals will be established for this.
According to legislation recently passed, those found guilty of specific crimes will be executed by hanging. There has been scrupulous research conducted to leave no doubt as to what transpired at their hands, and this may still be on-going.
I have concerns, quite honestly, about public pressure not to hang hundreds of prisoners. This is different from the Eichmann execution of a single individual. Perhaps when the extent of their sickening depravity has been exposed there will be a minimum of pressure. Perhaps that is wishful thinking.
I go on record for myself, and I know I speak for many, many others: I want to see every one of them dead. Period.
Netanyahu made several comments over the past several days regarding the fact that we are stronger than we were before October 7. This is certainly true. Hamas – which continues to work on rebuilding – has been reduced to a fraction of what it was. Ditto Hezbollah. We participated, as well, in a war to weaken Iran, which is currently struggling.
But there is far more to it than the weakening of our enemies. There has been an internal strengthening, a new resolve. This is both with regard to our sense of ourselves and an understanding of what we must do to protect ourselves. Strength must be projected at all junctures. Our borders must be protected. There must be ongoing efforts to continue to weaken our enemies.
May the Almighty be with us as we move forward.
I had said when I wrote about the Flydubai hijacking that I would return with further details. Bottom line is the question of how a terrorist who is an Omani national managed to secure a position as the pilot of a UAE plane destined for Tel Aviv. But what I have found since then is that there are so many unanswered questions that the head spins.
I will address just a few of the details here and want to begin with a video of Netanyahu in phone contact with the hero pilot of the flight, Captain Smit Machchhar. The prime minister invited him, along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to come light a torch during Independence Day celebrations.
The captain then described what transpired during the attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugAW4MwBEkQ
I have picked up indications from unofficial sources – for example citations of testimony from passengers who were present on the plane – that strongly suggest that the Israelis on the plane who had subdued the terrorist had to maintain control of the situation going forward. Some of this felt surprising. It was not as if the Israeli passengers and Emirati crew worked in concert to handle an extraordinarily difficult situation.
Apparently the two relief pilots on board, who ultimately did fly the plane to Saudi Arabia, had frozen and were in doubt as to how to proceed. They had to be pushed by the Israelis to quickly take the controls.
Additionally, once the flight was proceeding, the flight crew told the Israelis to sit down. They demanded that the terrorist be unbound and declared that they would take over. Obviously, that his not what happened.
There are different ways to interpret this. The crew may simply have been over their heads when attempting to handle an extraordinary and tension-filled situation with unclear dimensions: Hey! The crew gives the orders, not the passengers.
But I cannot help but wonder if the nationality of the passengers who saved the day played a role in this reported scenario. Was there resentment – even subliminally – harbored by the crew (likely all Muslim but who knows from where) at the prospect of (shock!) Israelis in control of their plane. This is not a far-fetched speculation. We can only be thankful for the presence of mind and the ability to act demonstrated by Israeli passengers.
Certain facts about this entire situation have emerged with troubling clarity.
First and foremost is that there is NO WAY the pilot, Hamam al-Hammami, should have been flying Israelis to Tel Aviv.
He was born in the UAE to an Omani father and Syrian mother and had lived in the UAE for several years. At one point it was thought that he had dual citizenship, with his Omani connection obscured by the fact that he had a second passport. But this has turned out to not be the case – he travels on his Omani passport.
On this basis alone he should not have been permitted into Israel; there are strict Israeli regulations about nationals of states without diplomatic ties to Israel being permitted to enter the country. Certainly individuals of countries with which we have no diplomatic relations are not allowed to pilot planes into Israel.
Netanyahu had made a statement, without specific clarification, regarding the radicalization of al-Hammami. One concern Israel has is determining whether he acted on his own, with assistance of a radical group, or with encouragement directly from Iran.
Al-Hammami worked for the Omani national airline for a while but was moved from his position as a pilot to an administrative job because of concerns about his extremist views. One report indicates that security services found him in possession of extremist material.
After leaving Omani Air, he worked with the official airline of Morocco, Royal Air Moroc. But he never went beyond training with this airline because he was not selected. What did Royal Air Moroc know about him?
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/10/02/world/flydubai-attacker-pilot-intl
For a while al-Hammami studied in Australia and during his time there he visited radical mosques and the Australian authorities are now looking into this.
https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/flydubai-co-pilot-visited-radical-mosques-in-australia-20261005-p612zo
So how did all of this escape notice and who is responsible?
Certainly the UAE slipped up badly.
Al-Hammami is now being interrogated in the UAE. Happily, the Mossad is participating in this interrogation.
Israel was not aware of al-Hammami’s history.
The Emiratis say that a manifest with the names of the pilots scheduled to come into Israel had been given to Israeli authorities. Transportation Minister Miri Regev says this information was not received. She further claimed that security agencies – Shin Bet and the Mossad – are responsible for checking, not her agency, which is not a security agency.
According to an early statement by Regev, it would be impossible to check the status of every pilot on every plane coming into Ben Gurion Airport. This would require checking the pilots on planes from the 51 countries that regularly operate in Israel, sometimes with several flights in a week. She said that the originating country provides documentation that the pilots have undergone a security check and have been cleared.
Apparently, however, her agency had been allocated funds for hiring personnel to secure international flights, but the positions were never filled. What is more, her agency rebuffed offers of assistance from the Shin Bet.
There are now calls for her dismissal.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-910767
This is where I will leave the story until there is further clarification.
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Please, pray for Israel.
©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
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