Monitoring recorded 2,963 conspiracy posts after flydubai incident — Jerusalem Post

After the incident aboard a flydubai aircraft operating a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv that made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, conspiracy claims about Israel's alleged involvement began spreading on social media. As the Jerusalem Post reports, the Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Combat Antisemitism Movement recorded the first post alleging an Israeli false flag operation 67 minutes after the aircraft issued a distress signal.

Monitoring data

According to the study, over 12 hours, analysts tracked 4,136 posts containing the phrase “false flag.” Of these, 2,963 hostile posts blamed Israel, Mossad, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Zionists, or Jews for the incident.

About 72% of all identified posts containing this phrase promoted such theories, and in the final hour of monitoring their share rose to 82%. The highest number of posts per hour — 623 — was recorded between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time.

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What is known about the incident

A Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft with 174 passengers on board issued a distress signal at 1:21 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time. According to the publication, one of the pilots allegedly stabbed another pilot and attempted to direct the aircraft into a crash. Passengers and crew members stopped the attacker, after which the aircraft was safely diverted to Tabuk.

The report provided examples of posts whose authors claimed without evidence that Netanyahu allegedly organized the incident in order to cancel elections or divert attention from criminal charges. Other posts compared the event to the September 11 and October 7 attacks, calling it an alleged Israeli false flag operation.

CyberWell CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor stated that such claims distort the circumstances of the event and repeat an antisemitic conspiracy trope alleging that Jews or Israelis organize attacks against themselves.