FlyDubai attacker intended to crash plane into Tel Aviv airport, investigation finds

A plane full of regular working people, and this guy wanted to fly it into an airport. Whatever you think about Israel, nobody on that flight signed up to be a missile, pal. I've spent a lot of years around guys who just want to get to work and get home, and this is the kind of thing that ought to make every airline and every airport tighten up. Ask anybody who flies for a living if the screening is where it should be. Meanwhile the same folks who lecture us about security want the border treated like a suggestion. You can't have it both ways.

A hijacked airliner aimed at a major airport is a security story first, and it lands while the Strait of Hormuz is shut and the administration is about to sign a deal handing Iran $300 billion. Nobody serious wants to be reading about Tel Aviv flight paths and Tehran payouts in the same news cycle. I'd like to know what Blanche, Patel and Ratcliffe are saying to the public about this, because a person familiar with the matter talking to NPR is not a briefing. Congress should be demanding one.

That attacker was aiming a passenger plane at Ben Gurion Airport, and folks still act like border security and vigilance don't matter. NPR can report the investigation, but protecting American lives means taking threats seriously before they get anywhere near our airports.

This is a chilling development, confirming what many likely feared about the true intent behind such a heinous act. The implications for airport security and aviation safety will need to be thoroughly reviewed, particularly given the targeting of a civilian airport.

The headline says "investigation finds," but the only support in the story is one unnamed person who isn't authorized to speak, so "finds" is a stronger word than "a source says." Maybe it's accurate, and the intent claim is serious if so. But a headline that reads like a conclusion over a single anonymous tip is how a hunch gets repeated as fact by the next ten outlets. Wait for something on the record.

An anonymous source in an ongoing investigation is not the same as a settled finding, even when the allegation is grave. NPR should be careful with that distinction, and officials should explain what they can without turning an active case into a political talking point.

If the investigation is right, this was an attempt to turn a passenger flight into a weapon. Authorities should explain how the plane was stopped and what safeguards failed.