The first round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday pits two well-known names in the political ring: Lula vs. Bolsonaro. But it’s not former president Jair Bolsonaro facing off against the incumbent head of state – it’s his eldest son, Flavio Bolsonaro.
Page T3From§Eachthe breakfast edition — 4 October 2026
'Lone wolf' illusion declared shattered 25 days before Israeli investigators conclude the Flydubai attacker was one.
As it ran on the front
You are smart people. I don't say that to warm you up for something unpleasant; I say it because a smart operation does not make the mistake sitting on page nine, and all week I've been trying to work out who, exactly, made it.
Quickly, because you've had most of this already: Oman Air flagged a co-pilot as a security risk back in 2024. Then, on a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, that same co-pilot went after his captain with a crash axe and tried for the controls. A passenger stopped him. Here's what I keep asking myself: was this one man, or thirty?…
…(cont) I wrote this down, and I'm sorry, because I'm going to come back to it more than once today. September 9th, the Washington Examiner: "The terrorism plot Israel foiled just shattered the 'lone wolf' illusion." The piece describes, and I'm reading this exactly, "an extensive Hamas-linked terrorist infrastructure" — more than thirty operatives, a restaurant employee allegedly ready to turn his own job into the scene.
I'm sorry, I keep going back to this, but look at the date on it. September 9th to October 4th is twenty-five days — I counted it on the actual calendar, not in my head — and on October 4th, CBS News reported that Israeli investigators looking into the Flydubai attack now believe the co-pilot was likely acting alone. Not thirty people. One.
I keep going back to this — I know — but it's the number that gets me. Thirty operatives is a network: cells, money moving somewhere, somebody's phone ringing in another country. One man with a crash axe is something you can carry across a garage by yourself. I've got an old hatchet out there on a nail by the workbench, and it takes two hands, and it's heavier than it looks the day you actually have to lift it and move it. One man. One axe. One captain. That's the entire weight of what investigators are now calling likely.
I'm sorry, I keep coming back to this, but it's the word "illusion" that won't sit still for me. Somebody decided, on September 9th, that the caution itself was the danger — that even considering a single attacker was the mistake that needed shattering. By Saturday, the Flydubai attack was already running in NBC News and the New York Post, terrorist-attack framing attached, the president's job offer attached right behind it. Was anyone still waiting on the investigators by then?
I don't know whose job it is to catch two pages like this before they both run. I used to think it was an editor with a calendar on the wall. Maybe it still is. I'm asking you to hold the two pages up next to each other — September 9th and October 4th, twenty-five days apart — and tell me which one the president was holding when he picked up the phone about the plumbing job.
Excuse me — before you go. That mistake I mentioned, the one sitting on page nine — I think I finally found it. I wrote both dates down and I still can't make them agree: September 9th, "shattered." October 4th, twenty-five days later — was it, after all, likely a lone wolf?
“Thirty operatives on September 9th, one guy with an axe on October 4th, and the only number that stayed the same the whole month was the price of the plumbing job: zero. This is the trick — sell the network because one man with a hatchet doesn't hold a headline, then let the investigators quietly walk it back a few weeks later when nobody's still watching. The plumber still works for free, the story already ran, and that's the business model.”
“Nobody said it was definitely an organized cell — we said the "lone wolf" idea itself was the real danger, the illusion, the— wait, did I just defend calling caution an illusion? Investigators need time, that's all this is, and the plumbing job offer has nothing to do with whether the findings change twenty-five days later. I'll circle back on that one.”
Earlier in this story
The receipts
The co-pilot who hijacked a Flydubai flight carrying 174 passengers and stabbed his captain on Wednesday was previously banned from flying by Oman over his radical beliefs. Israeli officials identified the hijacker as an Omani national, but according to a Wall Street Journal report, the individual was banned from operating an aircraft by…
The ICJ ordered Israel in January 2024 to "prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence" of alleged genocide in Gaza ICJ provisional measures order, 26 January 2024 (via ASIL)
Mamdani rips Netanyahu’s UN jab as Gaza distraction: ‘Not about me and him’New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to distract the world from the humanitarian crisis in Gaza when Netanyahu openly criticized Mamdani at the U.N. General Assembly last week. “All of this is an attempt to distract from responsibility.
The ICJ ordered Israel in January 2024 to preserve evidence of alleged genocide in Gaza ICJ provisional measures order, 26 January 2024 (via ASIL)
Mamdani says it was 'strange' getting called out by Netanyahu after calling for his arrestNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told Theo Von he was stunned when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him out by name during a United Nations General Assembly address.
The Latin American country will vote for its next president, as Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro clash over sovereignty, security and ties with Washington.
Just two days before Brazil's closely watched presidential election, the campaign of its left-wing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has asked the nation's top election court to examine the sudden shutdown of US consular services as part of a broader investigation into alleged election "interference" by the Trump administration. On…
“I don’t deserve to die like this,” said one passenger on Flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The motive of the cockpit stabbing remains unknown, officials said.
The Wall Street Journal reports the co-pilot who tried to fly a plane bound for Israel into the ground had been banned from flying by his home country, Oman, over his radical views. Plus, an Israeli official told NBC News investigators discovered the co-pilot had posted on social media that he wanted to kill Jews. NBC News’ Matt Bradley…
Hamam al-Hammami, the 29-year-old FlyDubai co-pilot accused of stabbing the captain on a Tel Aviv-bound flight, was previously grounded by Oman Air in 2024.
The U.S. halted consular services in Brazil Friday due to rising security concerns ahead of the country’s presidential election on Sunday. “Consular Services in the U.S.
‘This isn’t AI’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated to CBS News that the motive of the Flydubai co-pilot accused of stabbing his fellow pilot on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv is still unknown.
Brazil’s presidential election is on a knife-edge. Right-winger Flávio Bolsonaro has powerful interests on his side but is also counting on the Trump administration’s help to push him over the line.
The FlyDubai alleged attempted hijacking was likely a lone wolf attack, an early investigation by Israel shows, according to people familiar with the matter.
The US has been heavily intervening on behalf of right wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro ahead of Sunday's elections.
This election is turning into a Carnaval.
The ICJ ordered Israel in January 2024 to "prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence" of alleged genocide in Gaza ICJ provisional measures order, 26 January 2024 (via ASIL)
Mamdani calls for US to join ICC, arrest Netanyahu during Theo Von podcast appearance: ‘Architect of a horrific genocide’“If I had my say, the US government would have joined the ICC and honored every single warrant that they've issued,” Mamdani declared on Theo Von's podcast, "This Past Weekend."
Donald Trump praised Israeli plumber Yaniv Hayoun, who saved 170 lives by subduing a co-pilot trying to crash a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his main challenger Flavio Bolsonaro wrapped up their campaigns on Saturday in the powerhouse state of Sao Paulo, where a fifth of the nation's vote is based, seeking to rally supporters and convince the undecided on the eve of Sunday's nail-biter election.
Antisemitic incidents in 2025: 6,274 - the third-highest year since tracking began in 1979, with assaults at a record high ADL, 2025 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents
"Grotesque": Ex-Israeli Negotiator Daniel Levy on Netanyahu's U.N. Speech & Israel's ImpunityIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a half-empty chamber at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, after dozens of delegations walked out in protest at the start of his speech. Netanyahu assailed his critics as “antisemites,” defended his country’s conduct in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria, and lavished…
Imagine sitting on an airplane at 34,000 feet. Breakfast has been served. You are flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv with more than 170 other people, most of them Israelis.
A Flydubai pilot attacked his flight captain using a crash ax and tried to take control of the aircraft’s controls in an attempted terrorist attack, an official with the United Arab Emirates said Saturday. NBC News’ Raf Sanchez reports.
The Flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking the captain of a Tel Aviv-bound flight earlier this week allegedly used the cockpit’s “crash axe” in the assault and has been identified as a 29-year-old Omani national. The co-pilot attempted to “take control of the aircraft”
Brazilian officials, pro-democracy advocates, and US lawmakers are growing increasingly concerned about apparent efforts by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to interfere in the Latin American country's upcoming election. Reuters reported Wednesday that Brazil's spy agency "confirmed the existence of interference…
UAE prosecutors say flydubai co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami used a crash axe to attack the pilot in an attempted hijack of an Israel-bound flight.
Israel leader Benjamin Netanyahu says the FlyDubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to crash the plane had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination."
While Americans argue about which religious minorities belong in our national life, a Hindu of Indian origin captain and Jewish Israeli passengers offered a more consequential answer: They helped keep everyone on board Flydubai Flight FZ1073 alive. On Sept. 30, Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv became the scene of an apparent attempt…
Eliran Almog, a former Israeli pilot and aviation cybersecurity CEO, explains why FlyDubai flight 1073's emergency landing was nearly impossible.
The co-pilot of the FlyDubai plane who allegedly attacked its captain is an Omani national who was previously suspended by Oman Air as a security risk, sources say.
TEL AVIV — A Flydubai pilot attacked his flight captain using a crash ax and tried to take control of the aircraft’s controls in an attempted terrorist attack, an official with the United Arab Emirates said Saturday.
President Trump on Friday morning thanked the Israeli plumber, Yaniv Hayoun, who intervened after a pilot stabbed his co-pilot and attempted to crash a Flydubai flight this week. In a video message shared on Truth Social, the president praised Hayoun, saying he “did an amazing job.” “He’s my kind of guy,”
· The terrorism plot Israel foiled just shattered the ‘lone wolf’ illusion from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· What to know about Flydubai cockpit clash as pilot is arrested from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Pilot stabbed fellow pilot in apparent attempt to crash Israel-bound plane, Netanyahu says from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· ‘Hero’ pilot who helped save hijacked plane identified as Indian national Smit Machchhar from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Passengers stop co-pilot’s attempt to crash plane from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Facebook Blocks Lula’s Campaign Ads Just Days Before Brazil Election from the morgue, 28 Sep 2026
· Lula Teams With Bad Bunny to Highlight Dangers of Trump’s Colonial Ambitions Across Latin America from the morgue, 25 Sep 2026
· Peltola campaign rips New York Times report on tumultuous operations from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
· Senate Democrats warn Trump administration against Brazil election interference from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· Pilot of flydubai plane who fought off ‘terrorist’ first officer on Israel-bound flight ID’d as Indian national from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Trump says Netanyahu told him ‘Israeli plumber’ stabilized hijacked flight from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Passengers helped subdue attacker on Israel-bound flight that diverted to Saudi Arabia from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Flydubai hijacking divides Israel’s squabbling politicians during tough election season from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Brazil’s Biggest Election Question?: Donald Trump’s Next Move from the morgue, 28 Sep 2026
· Latest on FlyDubai flight to Israel where passenger says "co-pilot tried to murder pilot" from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Netanyahu is using Mamdani as a foil in his re-election campaign from the morgue, 28 Sep 2026
· 'Baseless Lies Meant to Sanitize His Genocide': Mamdani Hits Back After Netanyahu's Attacks During UN Speech from the morgue, 25 Sep 2026
· Israeli UN ambassador says Mamdani should be arrested instead of Netanyahu from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Mamdani again calls for Israel’s Netanyahu to be arrested when he comes to NY this week: ‘A war criminal’ from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Netanyahu rips Mamdani and calls Hamas terrorists mayor’s ‘buddies’ from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
· Netanyahu praises heroic bystander in bloody cockpit attack for preventing ‘another 9/11’ from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026
· Netanyahu credits heroic Israeli plumber on flydubai flight for preventing ‘another 9/11’– vows to find out if Iran was behind attack from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026
· Netanyahu on alleged FlyDubai pilot stabbing: "I don't think it was a hijacking" from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· As Netanyahu Threatens Libel Suit, Haaretz ‘Stands By Its Reporting’ on 10/7 Attack from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Netanyahu Vows to Strip Citizenship From Israelis Who Criticise the IDF from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· New York Times Affirms Haaretz Report: Netanyahu Was Warned About Oct. 7 from the morgue, 25 Sep 2026
· Extended interview: Benjamin Netanyahu discusses alleged pilot stabbing on flight to Israel from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· FlyDubai Flight to Israel Diverted After Clash Between Pilots: What We Know and Don’t Know from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Hero flydubai passenger still covered in blood meets Netanyahu as passengers arrive in Israel after hijacking attempt from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Netanyahu says one pilot stabbed the other and tried to crash Flydubai plane from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Pilot arrested for attempting to crash passenger plane in ‘jihadist terrorist attack’: Israeli officials from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Tel Aviv flight diverted to Saudi Arabia after pilot 'stabbed the other': Officials from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Michael Goodwin: Mamdani unveils new NYC antisemitism strategy —but can’t hide his hatred for Israel from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Hochul dodges weighing in on Mamdani’s antisemitism plan — which won’t define the term from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· Mamdani Accuses Netanyahu of Spreading ‘Baseless Lies’ After U.N. Speech from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
· Michael Rapaport rips NYC Mayor Mamdani during Jewish gathering outside Gracie Mansion from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026
· Rivals skeptical as Netanyahu warns of ‘attack’ against Israel before Oct. 27 election from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· Netanyahu met with representatives from eight Muslim nations during secret UAE visit: Report from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· Netanyahu calls claim he was warned of Oct. 7 attack "malicious libel" from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· ‘SNL’ roasts Mayor Zohran Mamdani with ‘urgent message’ for New Yorkers during nor’easter from the morgue, 27 Sep 2026
· Watchdog Thanks Mamdani for Release of 9/11 Air Quality Files Hidden From Public for Years from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Families of 9/11 victims' message to Mamdani: 'Please do not come' to memorial ceremony from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Trump to visit Mamdani in New York City for first meeting on mayor’s turf from the morgue, 20 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.