Israel flight hijacking latest: Netanyahu says it’s ‘too early to say’ who was behind attempt to crash Flydubai plane
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has named the pilot who was stabbed during the attempted hijacking of the FlyDubai flight, calling him a “true hero”.
In a post on X, he wrote: “My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery. Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster”.
Terrified passengers travelling on Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Israel described bloody scenes as the plane descended approximately 13,000 feet in 30 seconds during the chaos Wednesday morning. Four US-Israeli dual citizens were reportedly among the plane’s passengers.
One passenger named Yaniv told Netanyahu that he put the alleged attempted hijacker “in a chokehold”.
He said “before he [the stabbed pilot] collapsed” he managed to open the door to the cockpit, adding: “I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold, and pulled him — first and foremost — outside.”
Yaniv then said he “pulled the controls [of the plane]” to level the plane out, before the stabbed pilot took control.
The suspected hijacker has been arrested and is being interrogated by Saudi authorities.
