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Trump vows to hit Iran over flydubai attack o UAE leads investigation while Israel participates in probe

Arab Israeli drops out of Jerusalem election

JERUSALEM: Arab Israeli politician Sami Abu Shehadeh withdrew his candidacy on Thursday from October’s parliamentary election after Israel’s Supreme Court indicated that a majority of its judges supported barring him from the race. Arab Israeli parties are seen by political analysts as potential kingmakers in the Oct 27 election, with polls showing neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition nor the main opposition bloc on course for a majority. Abu Shehadeh leads the left-wing Palestinian Balad party and served in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, from 2019 to 2022. The Balad leader is withdrawing his candidacy, but the decision does not mark the end of his political struggle, his party said in a statement, adding that he would remain the party’s leader. Last week, Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify Abu Shehadeh at the request of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The move came after an article in which Abu Shehadeh described Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023 attack as an “important historical event”. He has denied supporting the attack but the remarks drew sharp criticism. The Supreme Court convened on Thursday to hear Abu Shehadeh’s appeal against the disqualification. Rather than issue a ruling, the court proposed that he voluntarily withdraw after signalling that most of its judges favoured excluding him from the election. It gave him until yesterday morning to decide. Abu Shehadeh had little choice but to withdraw in order to avoid a formal disqualification that would have “grave consequences for the country’s political and parliamentary life”, Balad said. Disqualifying candidates is rare in Israel, where the Supreme Court has historically overturned most bans approved by the elections committee. Under Israeli law, candidates can be barred only if they deny Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state or support armed struggle by an enemy state or a terrorist organisation against Israel. Adalah, the Israeli rights group representing Abu Shehadeh, accused the Supreme Court of effectively disqualifying him by pressuring him to withdraw. “A Palestinian leader has been forced out of the Israeli Knesset elections after the Supreme Court made clear it would remove him,” the group said. Adalah said Abu Shehadeh’s decades of public life as a human rights activist, legislator and party leader demonstrates his “consistent and unequivocal opposition to violence of any kind”. “It is a severe blow to the right of Palestinian citizens to be represented and to stand for election.” Besides Abu Shehadeh, the elections committee last week barred two Arab electoral lists: the United Arab List and the Joint List, a three-party alliance that includes Balad. The Supreme Court was due to continue hearing appeals from those parties yesterday. Arab Israelis, also known as Palestinian citizens of Israel, account for about 20% of the country’s population. Most identify as Palestinians. They are descendants of Palestinians who remained within Israel’s borders after the state’s creation in 1948 and have long complained of discrimination compared with Israel’s Jewish majority. – AFP

Israel on a replacement flight. “We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” said Netanyahu, without elaborating. “The attacker called out to the aircrew, ‘Kill me, kill me,’” he said, adding that it was “clear he was suicidal”. His comments come after the UAE chief prosecutor said investigators would explore whether there had been “terrorist activity or intent”. Netanyahu said the UAE would lead the investigation while Israel would participate. He identified the co-pilot as an Omani national and said Israel would check how he had been cleared to work on flights to the country. “We have constraints that say you cannot have pilots from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Obviously, he was able to go through that.” He had earlier credited captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, and passengers with averting catastrophe after the co-pilot allegedly stabbed him and tried to crash the plane. Passengers described rushing the cockpit and a fight for control after the plane suddenly plummeted, losing around 17,000 feet (5.1km) of altitude in

the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website. Israeli officials have called the incident “an attempted terrorist attack”, although Netanyahu in an earlier interview with CBS News had not ruled out the possibility that mental health was to blame. Netanyahu praised Machchhar “for his extraordinary bravery”. The Indian ambassador to the UAE visited the wounded captain, with the embassy saying he is in “good health and recovering well”. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described him as a “hero”, saying his actions had helped save lives. Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon said the aircraft was “pretty much out of control” as the incident unfolded over Jordan. “It was really on the way to crashing and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralised him.” Flydubai said another “on-duty flydubai crew travelling on the flight landed the aircraft safely” and announced that it was suspending flights to Israel while the investigation continues. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he would honour five Israelis who helped prevent the plane from crashing. – AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday Iran would be “hit very hard” if it is found to be linked to a pilot’s attack on a flydubai flight to Israel. The dramatic events a day earlier saw passengers help stop the plane from crashing, making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia before the flight’s mostly Israeli passengers were flown home to a hero’s welcome. Trump’s warning comes as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opened an investigation into whether the incident was linked to terrorism and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suspect had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”. “I would say the answer, based on what I am hearing, is yes, but we are working on it right now,” said Trump on Thursday when asked at the White House whether Iran was involved in what happened on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. On whether the United States would retaliate against Iran if it was found responsible, Trump said: “Oh, they will be hit very hard, do

not worry.” Trump’s threat coincides with a wider US military buildup in the region. Axios reported that Washington has recently deployed additional Patriot missile batteries to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to help protect key energy facilities from possible Iranian retaliation. It also reported that the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and its strike group were heading to the Middle East, where they could join two other US carrier strike groups already in the region. As speculation swirled about a possible motive, the UAE and Saudi Arabia began to piece together the events in the cabin. Saudi Arabia said the co-pilot was transferred to the UAE on Thursday accompanied by an “Emirati security team”, adding that its initial probe showed that he had attacked the aircraft’s captain. The alleged assault triggered a struggle for control of the aircraft before an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Passengers were later flown to

Individuals visiting a makeshift

memorial for Ukrainian and

foreign soldiers on Defender’s Day of Ukraine in Independence Square, Kyiv. – AFPPIC

Russia and Ukraine exchange strikes KYIV: Russian air strikes have hit the Southern Bridge in the Ukrainian capital here, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko yesterday. Dnipro River, triggering fires in the capital, as Moscow continues its nearly daily, around-the-clock strikes on Ukraine.

In Russia, Ukrainian drones targeted industrial facilities in the city of Volgograd, home to a large oil refinery, sparking a fire and leaving one person injured after hitting an apartment building, a governor said. – Reuters

were redirecting transports via alternative routes, authorities said. A fire broke out in the top floors of an apartment building in Kyiv, in addition to damage in another part of the city and the Southern Bridge, added Klitschko.

Traffic across the bridge and another one, the Paton Bridge, was closed in both directions as they

On Thursday, Russian drones smashed into a school in Kyiv and into the Southern Bridge over the