Netanyahu calls stabbed Indian pilot a hero; Flydubai stops flights to Israel | Benjamin Netanyahu News

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the captain of a Flydubai plane as “a true hero” for saving all 174 people on board after he was stabbed by his co-pilot in what Israeli officials said was an attempt to bring down the plane.

Netanyahu’s comments Wednesday came as the Israeli government said it would verify the identities of all pilots flying into the country. Flydubai has suspended flights to and from Israel as part of its investigation into the episode of flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu said the captain, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, “returned fire, resisted, opened the cockpit door and allowed the passengers and crew to subdue the attacker.”

Although he was seriously injured, he said Captain Machchhar had avoided “a catastrophic air disaster”.

“He is a true hero,” Netanyahu wrote on X.

The Boeing 737 Max 8 made an emergency landing in Tabuk, northwest Saudi Arabia, following the incident. According to flight tracking service Flightradar24, the plane went from 33,000 feet (about 10,000 meters) to 17,000 feet (about 5,200 meters) in about a minute.

Netanyahu said in a video that most of the passengers were Israeli and that the co-pilot had “apparently intended to bring down the plane as it approached Israel.” The co-pilot is still not identified. The Israeli prime minister said Saudi authorities arrested the co-pilot after landing and questioned him.

The motive for the incident has not been established.

Israel will control pilots

Flydubai, owned by the United Arab Emirates government, described the incident as a “cockpit altercation” and said the on-duty crew members had “diverted and landed the plane safely.” The airline announced it was suspending flights to and from Israel while an investigation continues.

The UAE’s aviation regulator, the GCAA, said the flight “experienced a security incident which was brought under control”.

Doron Spielman, Netanyahu’s spokesman, said Israel would now verify the identity of all pilots flying into the country.

“Every pilot who is going to fly to Israel, we are going to know their identity, know who they are and do some sort of security check,” he told the Reuters news agency.

US President Donald Trump said he spoke to Netanyahu about the incident and was informed that an Israeli plumber had intervened to prevent the plane from crashing.

“It appears that the co-pilot was maybe a terrorist or maybe a crazy person, and he stabbed the pilot,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The pilot “was able to back up, open the door and scream.”

“An Israeli plumber saw what was happening,” the US president said. “The plane was descending sharply at an incredible angle, so sharp that the rudder ripped the back of the plane… It ripped this guy out of the seat, threw him back. The crowd grabbed him. The passengers grabbed him, grabbed him. And having never flown in an airplane, he grabbed the stick, lifted it up and leveled the plane before it crashed.”

A rescue flight operated by Flydubai transported all passengers from Tabuk to their final destination, Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, at 15:34 GMT.

“We are going to die”

Passengers described the incident as a miracle and recounted their frantic struggle to avert disaster.

Yaniv Hayun, who had entered the cockpit, said he grabbed the controls and pulled them, as he had seen on television, until crew members took over.

Netanyahu’s office released a video of the prime minister kissing Hayun at Ben Gurion Airport. Hayun was still wearing the bloodstained shirt he wore during the flight.

Asaf Rajuan, who helped subdue the attacker, spoke with blood still on his forehead.

“It’s something you do without thinking, just running to save your daughter’s life, your family’s life,” he said.

Another passenger, Almog Italy, said the plane dropped “very, very sharply”, stabilized, then fell several times.

Naama Bershadski said she closed her eyes and prayed, thinking, “We are going to die.” »

The Indian embassy in Riyadh said Captain Machchhar, “the brave Indian Flydubai pilot”, was “admitted to a hospital in the northwestern Saudi Arabian city of Tabuk” and was “receiving necessary medical treatment”.

The embassy said it was awaiting a full update on the pilot’s health, but that “he is believed to be in stable condition.”