The Media Line: Another Layer of Trauma: Too Early To Know How Flydubai Incident Will Affect Israelis 

Another Layer of Trauma: Too Early To Know How Flydubai Incident Will Affect Israelis 

Israeli trauma experts say the psychological impact on Flydubai passengers remains uncertain as the incident adds to years of war, violence and cumulative trauma 

By Maayan Hoffman / The Media Line 

It has only been a few days since the Flydubai attempted terror attack, so it may still be too early to know how the experience will affect the people who were on the plane or those who watched the events unfold from the ground. 

After the October 7 Hamas massacre, two wars with Iran and three years of trauma and fighting on multiple fronts, Israelis are finally hoping, as the anniversary of the massacre comes around, to begin to heal. But situations like this can quickly remind Israelis that they still do not feel entirely safe. 

“We lost the sense of ‘Never Again,’” said Dr. Cathy Lawi, a trauma specialist and CEO of EmotionAid. “We’re not quiet.” 

In the first few days following a traumatic event, “all reactions are normal,” explained Dr. Shiri Ben-David, head of the Department of Psychology at Hadassah Medical Organization. 

“Whether it is people who were on the plane or the rest of the population, all reactions are normal. If people have a flight scheduled next week and they are hesitating, it’s normal. If they don’t sleep well at night, it’s normal. If they are experiencing panic attacks, obsessively looking at the news and trying to understand what happened, it’s all normal.” 

The bigger question, Ben-David said, is what will happen in the longer term. Statistically, around 10% to 20% of the people on the plane could eventually be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or experience symptoms of it. Others may experience positive psychological changes, known as post-traumatic growth, and begin to feel differently about their lives and priorities. However, she stressed that it is still too early to predict those long-term effects. 

What can already be said, according to Lawi, is that the immediate aftermath of the incident was handled relatively well. 

She said Israel has learned that how people who experience trauma are treated in the immediate aftermath of an event can have a tremendous impact on how they cope in the future. In this case, the people on the plane were treated with care both when they landed in Saudi Arabia and when they arrived back in Israel. Moreover, she said, the fact that they survived and managed to get off the plane safely will likely be a mitigating factor. 

“It might be that the passengers on the plane are going to be sensitive next time they go on a plane,” Lawi said. 

For people who already had a fear of flying, the experience may be more traumatic. But when considering the passengers themselves, she said, each person and situation needs to be examined individually. 

One might assume that the four men who took direct action during the incident, Yaniv Hayun, Zvika Manes, Assaf Rajuan and Dr. Shota Musaev, would be among those most affected. But Ben-David explained that people who are able to act competently during a traumatic event may draw on that sense of competence as a major source of resilience, potentially helping protect them from later emotional difficulties. 

 

“They live with the narrative that they were very competent,” Ben-David said. “They could do something while the rest of the people were passive victims of the event. This should be very helpful in their long-term coping.” 

In contrast, according to Lawi, those who watched what was happening or heard the screams “are going to experience symptoms for sure.” She cautioned that this does not mean they will experience PTSD, but they may experience some trauma-related symptoms. 

Moreover, Lawi noted that the “fight instinct” witnessed aboard the plane may itself reflect how years of war and trauma have affected Israelis. Even Manes’ wife, Tali, who alerted others on the plane to the attack, may have been hypervigilant, a common symptom associated with trauma and PTSD. In this case, however, that heightened awareness may have helped them recognize the danger and respond quickly. 

“Our population in Israel since October 7th has become much more hypervigilant, and hypervigilance is one of the symptoms of trauma,” Lawi said. “We are hypervigilant for a reason because it’s supposed to protect us. In this particular case, there was this woman who was able to go and warn people on the plane that something was going on and we had to intervene.” 

Passenger Almog Italie was also aboard the Flydubai flight. He told The Media Line that the journey started out fairly normally. Then, about two hours in, everything changed. 

“It was like a massive roller coaster. The G-force was so, so strong. We noticed it was not regular turbulence,” Italie said. 

He said the plane nosedived, then leveled out before beginning to nosedive again. 

“We managed to see that the people were running to the cockpit,” Italie said, but that was all the passengers knew at first. By and large, people stayed in their seats and remained calm. It was only about 30 minutes later, he said, that they understood that the captain had been stabbed. 

“What was most important is that most of the people, most of the passengers, kept calm,” Italie said. “They’re very relaxed. They stayed in their seats, which helped us to manage the flight because the crew members were in shock. They didn’t function at all.” 

Despite what he experienced, Italie said he does not currently have any fear of flying. In fact, the passengers had little time to process what had happened before having to board another Flydubai flight to return home from Saudi Arabia. 

“We didn’t have any other choice,” he admitted. “But definitely, I will fly again. No worries.” 

Italie’s reaction illustrates the complexity of trauma. The same terrifying experience can affect different people in very different ways, particularly in a country where the latest incident comes on top of years of collective and individual trauma. 

In Israel, some 3 million people are struggling with mental health symptoms such as anxiety, depression and PTSD, according to the State Comptroller. Lawi said the numbers continue to rise. 

The alleged hijacking attempt, then, represents another potential trauma layered on top of existing ones, a phenomenon known as cumulative trauma. Whether repeated exposure to trauma ultimately makes someone more resilient or instead leaves them increasingly vulnerable is still being studied, Ben-David said, and the answer may be different for every person. 

“Think of the people on the southern and northern borders who have been experiencing rockets for three or more years,” Ben-David noted. “We have a lot of questions regarding cumulative trauma. We know the reactions are different for some people. Suffering more and more events makes some people more resilient and for others the opposite.” 

There is also the issue of secondary trauma, Lawi said, which can result from witnessing or being exposed to other people experiencing trauma, particularly when those people are close to us. 

“For sure, it’s going to continue affecting the population,” she said. 

Yet Lawi said Israel’s extraordinary exposure to trauma also presents an opportunity to better understand how people respond to it and to develop more effective ways of helping them cope. Those lessons, she said, could ultimately extend well beyond Israel. 

“We have more trauma than in other places, but the mental health crisis is everywhere,” Lawi said. “Whatever we have here, we’ll be able to share it with the world.” 

 

 

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