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Source: https://forward.com/opinion/853040/israeli-heroes-attempted-hijacking/
For a Few Terrifying Minutes, Israelis Were Heroes Again
(Forward) Dan Perry - A Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv on Wednesday that could have ended in catastrophe instead became one of those extraordinary stories in which ordinary people discover that the few seconds available for a decision are the only seconds that matter. Put 180 Israelis in a metal tube in the skies and you have a statistically improbable concentration of people who have served in the military, treated patients, handled emergencies, and developed the conviction that whatever has gone wrong can probably be fixed if everyone stops panicking and starts doing something. That quality has long been part of the national mythology. The country was built around the idea that its people would have to improvise their way through circumstances that seemed to offer very little room for error. In the military, it is the officer who shouts "after me" rather than leading from behind. Sadly, Israel has been widely and wildly vilified around the world - by antisemites of every stripe and activists who have made Zionism a dirty word. Israelis have been seen increasingly through the prism of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A plane full of passengers offers a different perspective. They were ordinary. They were resourceful. Some of them were brave. And the world was reminded of another side of Israel. The writer is the former London-based Europe-Africa editor and Cairo-based Middle East editor for the Associated Press.