Among the passengers of Flydubai Flight 1073 on Sept. 30 were Israelis returning to Israel to mark the third anniversary of Oct. 7. Little did they know, their flight nearly became one of the worst terrorist attacks in Israel’s history.
Three years ago, on Oct. 7 2023, Hamas terrorists launched the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Hamas stormed across Israel’s border, slaughtering roughly 1,200 people, murdering families in their homes and young people at a music festival. They took 251 men, women, and children hostage into Gaza.
Oct. 7 was not simply an attack on Israel. Hamas sought to shatter Israel’s sense of security, terrorize Jews around the world and destroy the possibility of a different Middle East. They wanted to turn the Arab world against Israel and make peace between Israel and its neighbors impossible.
Documents captured by the IDF in the Gaza Strip show that Hamas closely monitored efforts to advance normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Oct. 7 was meant, in part, to derail that process. Hamas succeeded in delaying it, but it failed to destroy the broader framework of peace and cooperation that Israel had built with its Arab neighbors.
Three years later, Flight 1073 was another attempt to strike at that same reality. The idea that an Israeli family could board a plane in Dubai on a Jewish holiday and fly home to Israel was once unimaginable. Today, it is part of a new Middle East, one in which Israelis and Arabs travel, trade and build relationships across borders.
That is precisely the reality that terrorism sought to destroy. As Flight 1073 flew over Saudi Arabia, its terrorist co-pilot stabbed the captain and attempted to seize control of the aircraft. He sent the plane into a drastic dive, with the apparent intention of crashing the aircraft and its 174 passengers into Ben Gurion International Airport.
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Neither Oct. 7 nor Flight 1073 could break the Israeli spirit of resilience.
On the morning of Oct.7, Israeli civilians left their homes and fought Hamas terrorists with their bare hands to protect their families and communities. On Flight 1073, heroic passengers likewise rushed the cockpit, putting their own lives on the line to stop the terrorist and save everyone on board.
They were defending more than themselves. They were defending the possibility of a different future, one in which Israel is secure, connected to its neighbors and at peace.
We have continued to see this Israeli resilience in the years following October 7.
Israel has rebuilt its security posture. Hamas has been severely weakened, Hezbollah’s military capabilities have been substantially degraded, and Israel has established new security realities in Gaza and along its northern border. The threats have not disappeared, but the strategic environment Israel faces today is fundamentally different from the one it faced on three years ago.
We also never stopped fighting for our hostages. Three years after Oct. 7, they all came home. Our efforts included bringing former captives to the United Nations Security Council to advocate for the immediate release of the remaining hostages.
In January, Israel announced that the final hostage, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, had been identified and returned for burial. We thank the Trump administration for helping secure the deal that brought them all home.
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That is what Israeli resilience looks like. A nation that leaves nobody behind. A nation that could not begin to truly rebuild until all our hostages came home.
Israel has also shown diplomatic resilience in the past three years.
September marked six years since the Abraham Accords. Before the recent U.N. General Assembly, it was my honor to celebrate that milestone with distinguished officials from the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Kazakhstan as a prospective member.
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Although we continue to face criticism over the war in Gaza, Israel remains deeply engaged with the world and is building new partnerships in the Middle East and beyond.
Our history has taught us that resilience is not simply the ability to survive tragedy. It is the strength to rise from it, to rebuild, and to choose life.
We saw it in the aftermath of World War Two. The survivors of the Holocaust dedicated their lives to rebuilding the Jewish state.
Now, after Oct. 7, we see the same resilience: the resilience of the families who lost so much, yet found the strength to stand, rebuild, and carry Israel forward.
Resilience is part of our national DNA. Three years ago, on Oct. 7, Hamas tried to break us. They failed. They changed us, wounded us and left scars that will never fully heal. But they did not break us.
Not on Oct. 7, not in the skies above the Middle East and not ever.