TEL AVIV (Dispatches) -- Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak accused Benjamin Netanyahu of fabricating a security crisis to delay the October 27 election, as speculation intensified that the September 30 Flydubai cockpit incident was a “false flag” operation linked to Netanyahu’s secret visit to the UAE days earlier. 
Barak told Channel 12 that Netanyahu “is preparing the infrastructure to go to war in a way that would postpone the elections,” adding that “we must do everything to remove him from power on October 27, once and for all”.
The Flydubai incident has become the centerpiece of an escalating political storm. On September 30, flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv—carrying 174 passengers—sent hijacking emergency signals and plunged more than 17,000 feet before making an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. 
The UAE Attorney-General announced Saturday that the Omani co-pilot “attempted to commit a terrorist act,” attacking the captain with a crash axe and attempting to seize the flight controls.
Netanyahu immediately framed the incident as a near-catastrophe on the scale of September 11, claiming the co-pilot had undergone “Islamist radicalization” and raising the possibility of Iranian involvement. 
U.S. President Donald Trump added fuel to the fire, telling reporters that based on what he was hearing, the answer on Iranian involvement “is yes”.
However, a source close to the UAE government told Israeli daily Ynet that Netanyahu was “exploiting the attack for political purposes,” with “the elections managing the event, not logic.” 
The source compared Israel’s conduct to “an arsonist who runs to start the fire and then runs to put it out”. Emirati officials were reportedly “going crazy over Israel’s behavior,” questioning why Israel described repatriation flights as “rescue flights” when “there is no war”.
The Flydubai incident occurred just three days after Netanyahu’s unannounced visit to Abu Dhabi on September 27, where he met UAE President Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed. 
The timing has drawn intense scrutiny because the trip came amid explosive revelations that the Emirati leader had warned Netanyahu—ten days before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack—that Hamas was planning a major operation, warnings Netanyahu dismissed and never passed to Israel’s security chiefs.
According to Haaretz and subsequently confirmed by The New York Times, Netanyahu asked bin Zayed during the secret meeting to deny the reports about the pre-October 7 warning. 
The hijacking scenario was concocted with the UAE’s complicity to divert attention from the October 7 warning scandal, bolster Netanyahu’s security credentials, and create a pretext for renewed confrontation with Iran. 
Opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of “fearmongering” after receiving a security briefing on alleged pre-election attack threats, stating that “Israel’s security and military bases are not scenery for election campaign videos”. 
He noted that “before Oct. 7, Netanyahu did not address any warning, and 28 days before the elections he suddenly became preoccupied with fearmongering”.
Recent polling shows opposition parties securing 53 seats versus 51 for Netanyahu’s bloc, with neither side able to form a cabinet without coalition partners. 
Barak, who has accused Netanyahu since August of seeking to reach Election Day amid heightened security tension, said his history of “lying as he breathes” demonstrated he could not be trusted with security decisions.