The hero who stopped Israel’s 9/11

Dame Esther Rantzen dies aged 86 | The battle to fix Britain’s broken social care system

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Thursday, 1 October 2026 Issue No. 585

Good morning. The plot, it appears, was to stab the pilot, hijack the plane with 180 Israelis on board and crash it into a building in Tel Aviv in a 9/11-style attack. Enter passenger Yaniv Hayun, who dragged the alleged terrorist out of the cockpit before grabbing the controls to stop the aircraft nosediving. Rozina Sabur, our National Security Editor, brings you the extraordinary details. Elsewhere, Dame Esther Rantzen has died aged 86. You’ll find her obituary below. Chris Evans, Editor P.S. We’re giving you a whole year of The Telegraph for just £29. If you’re already a subscriber, make sure you’re logged in to read today’s stories.   In today’s edition Dame Esther Rantzen dies aged 86 — ‘I told my father Jonathan Aitken I had been sexually assaulted at 15, but he didn’t seem to care’ — Plus, how to go grey disgracefully like Olivia Colman

Try 1 year for just £29 Unlock this newsletter, plus full access to our website and app for less than £2.50 a month. Claim your offer   The hero who stopped Israel’s 9/11 Rozina Sabur National Security Editor   A passenger on board a hijacked plane described how he wrestled an alleged terrorist out of the cockpit before taking control of the jet, averting a possible 9/11-style attack on Israel. The Flydubai jet carrying Israelis from Dubai to Tel Aviv plunged 15,000ft in 37 seconds yesterday morning when the co-pilot stabbed the pilot and tried to disable the controls. The hero, identified last night as Yaniv Hayun, said: “When I went in, I saw the terrorist on the controls, between the two seats. There were no pilots in the seats. “I grabbed the terrorist, put him in a hold, and first of all pulled him outside.” Hayun said he called for other passengers to help hold back the co-pilot before rushing back into the cockpit to steady the plane. “I jumped back in there, grabbed the controls, started pulling the controls,” he said, adding that another pilot later took over from him and landed the plane. The stabbed pilot, Smit Machchhar, from India, was also hailed a hero last night after he managed to open the cockpit door during the melee. Israeli security officials have told The Telegraph the terrorist may have planned to crash the plane into an Israeli city and more than one source pointed to the possibility of a tower block in Tel Aviv being the target. A senior Israeli source said: “This is thought to be a 9/11 scenario where the co-pilot kills the pilot and crashes the plane inside of Israel with all the passengers mostly Israelis.” The source noted that the plane was “hijacked” close to the border with Jordan, very near Israeli territory. “It’s like hijacking a plane over the English Channel as it heads to London,” they said. The attacker is believed to be Omani, and Israel is investigating how he was cleared to operate a flight bound for Tel Aviv, given that Oman and Israel have no diplomatic relations and Israel imposes strict controls on foreign crew flying into its airspace. Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, described the incident as an “attempted jihadist attack”. He added that the attack had only been thwarted “thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers who stormed the cockpit”. Katz said: “The terrorist had one intention: to crash the plane with all its passengers on board.” This report is available to subscribers only. Continue reading ➤ The bloody brawl for control on board ‘hijacked’ flight to Israel ➤ Hijack terror plot could tear fragile Gulf apart ➤   Opinion Allister Heath Burnham’s real plan for Britain is mad, nasty, and shockingly extreme The PM is staking everything on reuniting the Left while betting that Tories and Reform will focus on annihilating each other Continue reading ➤     Ros Altmann Burnham’s triple lock pledge makes no sense Continue reading ➤     Michael Deacon Hyacinth Bucket would be a rabid Leftie today Continue reading ➤     To make sure you don’t miss our newsletters when they land in your inbox, click here. In other news • Andy Burnham has said there are “strong indications that Iran played a part” in the suspected terror plot targeting RAF Fairford. • Elsewhere, the Prime Minister has indicated that a second Brexit referendum is a possibility as part of his review of Britain’s relationship with the EU. • Labour’s “one in, one out” deal with France is to end because too few Channel migrants were deported under it, the Home Office has announced. • Zack Polanski is urging Ed Miliband to block the Rosebank oil field over alleged ties to Israel. Ithaca, the North Sea’s second-largest operator, is controlled by Israeli energy company Delek Group. • Finally, one of Vincent van Gogh’s final paintings, a landscape of the village where he spent his last months, is up for sale. The painting is expected to fetch a record-breaking £135m.   Your essential reads Dame Esther Rantzen dies aged 86 A phallic parsnip, a dog that said “sausages” and some of television’s most formidable consumer campaigning made Dame Esther Rantzen a Sunday-night institution. Yet her legacy stretched far beyond the 18 million viewers who tuned into That’s Life!. The broadcaster, who has died aged 86, founded Childline and the Silver Line, before her terminal cancer diagnosis propelled her into the assisted-dying debate. For more than half a century, she had an uncommon knack for making Britain sit up and take notice. Continue reading ➤   The battle to fix Britain’s broken social care system At the Labour Party conference this week, Andy Burnham became the latest in a long line of prime ministers to promise to reform the social care system. But it is far from clear how he will pay for it. Experts tell Rosa Silverman why the policy has defeated so many previous leaders and what the current PM must do if he wants to make a real difference to the lives of our most vulnerable citizens. For subscribers only ➤   ‘I told my father Jonathan Aitken I had been sexually assaulted at 15, but he didn’t seem to care’ Petra Khashoggi is the biological daughter of Rev Jonathan Aitken, the former Conservative Cabinet minister and now an Anglican priest and prison chaplain. She writes: “I have not seen or spoken to either of my parents for years, but even with that distance, I was unprepared for how deeply a recent interview my father gave to The Telegraph would affect me. It prompted me to write this essay. I was 15 when I became the victim of a serious sex crime. For 30 years, I have hidden what happened to me beneath the broad, less-confronting term ‘sexual assault’. Under modern British law, the offence is now defined by the word I had never been capable of applying to myself until now: rape. The details of what happened that night are not the point of this story. What followed is.” Continue reading ➤   He paid for Don Jr’s wedding party. What does ‘The Kremlin’s man’ want? Umar Kremlev is a rags to riches Russian oligarch and friend of Vladimir Putin. So why did he pay for Donald Trump Jr’s wedding party? Worth hundreds of millions of pounds and sanctioned by Ukraine, Kremlev is a man on a mission. The Telegraph has found that his relationship with Donald Jr goes much deeper than previously reported, and that the Russian boxing supremo has his eye on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. This is the story of his colourful life and what he wants to happen next. Continue reading ➤   Seize the day How to go grey disgracefully like Olivia Colman The actress Olivia Colman arrived at the Zurich Film Festival earlier this week with a surprising new look: her signature pixie cut had been transformed into a long, curly grey hairstyle. It wasn’t the result of a summer of rapid hair growth, but rather hair extensions from playing a reclusive fisherwoman in her upcoming film Wicker. From changing your hairstyle to adapting your make-up, we asked some leading experts for their grey hair tips. Continue reading ➤ Here is another article that may be of interest this morning: After menopause, Olympic hurdler Sally Gunnell stayed active but still found herself gaining weight. These seven rules helped her burn the fat off and build muscle.   diary of an mnd sufferer ‘The rare benefits of being ill’ Few can imagine the agony of motor neurone disease (MND), a condition that causes muscles to waste away, leading to paralysis and respiratory failure. One in 300 of us will develop it, and there is currently no cure. For the past 18 months, one courageous Telegraph reader, whose face we never see, has been living with MND and, with the help of her family, has recorded her battle against a condition that, as she writes so movingly, “does tend to make one feel that one is disappearing from the world”.   Our anonymous author writes: One of the benefits of being ill – and one must acknowledge the few – is how kind people are. My husband and family, of course. I have been most struck by my granddaughters, 11 and 13, and their quiet understanding. At that age, would I have been patient with a mumbling elderly relative or walked away in embarrassment? The man who cuts our hedges, the man who mends our computers – generous once they understood. The craftsman who built our steps and painted our house is one of the few who willingly struggles to follow what I am trying to say. Neighbours I had only chatted to in passing now call in. Friends of 60 years write, and visit, and welcome us to their homes. Not everyone. Waiting for an appointment, a nurse turned to my husband and asked, pointing to me, whether “she was here for a meeting”. A fortnight later another cupped her hand to her mouth and stage-whispered to a colleague: “She doesn’t talk” – but I can see and hear perfectly well. I have had to give up the car. My husband drives me, attends every consultation, and translates. It is a relentless burden on a man no younger than I am. Still, the kindness of so many outweighs the few idiots. Which is just as well, because there is no cure, and astonishingly little is known about this ridiculously melodramatic disease. The sympathetic understanding and effective assistance offered by so many is nothing short of astounding. Read the full diary ➤ Next week: Where now? If you, a family member or a friend have had an experience with MND, share your story here.   Your say Feline friends Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes... It was a close-run thing, but I just about avoided sobbing in front of my colleagues as I read Suzanne Moore’s beautiful tribute to her cat Penelope, who died on Sunday. As the responses to the piece attest, her description of the “love without condition” that pet owners feel resonated widely. More than two years ago now, my cat Fergus – a sturdy, stately tabby – died unexpectedly. Although I’d had cats before, I was taken aback by how bereft I felt. “For every house is incomplete without him,” wrote the great, mad 18th-century poet Christopher Smart of his cat Jeoffry. How true.   Readers have been sharing their own tales of feline love and loss. “I can totally relate to this,” wrote Katy Taylor. “Cats are not completely ‘independent’, as some people believe. They crave human company and when they find ‘their’ human, it is a truly deep relationship.”   “Over the past 50 years”, added Ann Levitt, “I have been owned by 14 cats. I have loved every one of them, played with them, fed them, fretted about them and held them in my arms in their last hours. I have my one beloved now: she is sitting watching me write this. I was in tears after reading Suzanne’s article. I send her my deepest sympathy and gratitude for putting into words what all cat lovers feel.”   There was a happier coda to Carolyn Dutton’s story: “Three years ago we lost our much-loved, 17-year-old Gertrude. The house felt empty, but we decided that we were too old to take on another cat. Eighteen months ago, however, a photo of nine-year-old Alfred appeared on our village website, along with a request from his emigrating family for a new home. Our reservations evaporated and Alfred settled in immediately.” Thanks to everyone who wrote in. You can send your stories to me here, for potential inclusion in Saturday’s newsletter. Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name.   On this day 1949 | The People’s Republic of China is proclaimed by Mao Zedong at the Tiananmen Gate in Peking 2019 | Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, sue The Mail on Sunday, claiming it published her private letter 2024 | Iran launches a major missile attack on Israel in retaliation for a ground assault by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon (see how we covered this on our front page the following day) Also, in this week’s news, Nigella Lawson has revealed that she was told to take smaller mouthfuls on the Great British Bake Off. Who said this to her? 1. Paul Hollywood 2. Noel Fielding 3. Alison Hammond Click one of the options to reveal the answer...   Puzzles Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.   Yesterday’s Panagram was MUNDANITY. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle.   Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. Try 1 year for just £29 Unlock this newsletter, plus full access to our website and app for less than £2.50 a month. Claim your offer

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