The attempted crash of Flydubai flight FZ1073 bound for Tel Aviv is the latest reminder of Islamist extremists' decades-long focus on civil aviation. Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four American airliners on 9/11, killing nearly 3,000 people. Months later, al-Qaeda member Richard Reed, who had converted to Islam, tried to destroy an American Airlines flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.

The attempted crash of Flydubai flight FZ1073 bound for Tel Aviv is the latest reminder of Islamist extremists' decades-long focus on civil aviation. Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four American airliners on 9/11, killing nearly 3,000 people. Months later, al-Qaeda member Richard Reed, who had converted to Islam, tried to destroy an American Airlines flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.

In 2006, British authorities foiled an Islamist plot to simultaneously destroy several transatlantic airliners using liquid explosives. In 2009, al-Qaeda-trained Omar Farooq Abdulmutallab attempted to bomb Northwest Flight 253 as it approached Detroit with 290 people on board. The threat repeatedly crossed borders, airlines and continents: the criminals attacked American carriers, transatlantic lines and now a passenger plane flying to Israel. European and other Western governments cannot treat aviation terrorism as a threat limited to another country or another era. Islamist terrorism remains a transnational security threat capable of crossing borders and targeting civilians, transportation networks, and public spaces.