Douglas Murray: Israel Is Winning

Israel averted tragedy Wednesday morning when passengers aboard a plane bound for Tel Aviv thwarted an attempted hijacking by the co-pilot, a suspected terrorist. In an exclusive interview with The Free Press, one of those passengers, Yaniv Hayoun, describes how he stormed the cockpit.

The attempted hijacking is a reminder that Israel’s enemies don’t rest and never fail to surprise. But as the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks approaches, Douglas Murray writes to remind us how often, and how thoroughly, Israelis have overmatched those enemies. Despite constant trials, Douglas writes, the past three years have been a triumph. —Mene Ukueberuwa

The attempted hijacking of a Flydubai plane en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv brings back memories of many other attacks. The bravery of the crew and passengers who overwhelmed the pilot-terrorist brings to mind the heroism of the American passengers on United Flight 93. The targeting of a plane full of Israeli passengers recalls the spate of plane hijackings that haunted the 1970s. But most of all, the attack—and the successful averting of what could have been a mass-casualty terrorist event—is a reminder of something bigger: that Israel and the West remain at war with Islamic radicals, and that it is a war we are winning.

To some people, this reflection might seem counterintuitive. Each day’s news is filled with declarations of defeat. The online world is filled with shrill declarations that Israel has lost this war.

But as we approach the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks, I stand by what I wrote here this time last year: that Israel and her allies have been winning the war on the ground even as they have lost the PR war around the world. The PR war matters. But it matters less than the war itself. Better to win the ground war and lose the PR war than the other way around.