Terrorism Around the World > Attempted hijacking of Fly Dubai flight to Tel Aviv

 

Israel probes flydubai incident as terror attack after co-pilot stabs captain

The co-pilot sought to seize control of the Tel Aviv-bound plane and was subdued by crew members and passengers.

JNS Staff

(Sept. 30, 2026 / JNS)

A flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after the co-pilot repeatedly stabbed the captain in what Israeli authorities are now treating as a terrorist attack, according to Israeli media reports.

Flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 carrying 174 passengers, including 27 children, landed safely at Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia after transmitting emergency signals that raised fears of a possible hijacking.

Following situational assessments and testimony from passengers, Israel is treating the incident as a “full-fledged terrorist attack,” Israeli journalist Amit Segal reported.

The co-pilot stabbed the captain several times before crew members and passengers managed to enter the cockpit door and overpower him, according to Segal.

“An extremely serious disaster was averted,” Segal quoted a senior Israeli official as saying.

The co-pilot was being questioned, as indications mounted that he intended to take control of the aircraft and crash it with the passengers on board, according to the official.

‘Great stroke of luck’

Israeli authorities were informed that an additional team of pilots was aboard the aircraft as part of a routine crew arrangement, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported. The pilots were traveling as passengers and were able to take control and stabilize the aircraft after the attacker was subdued.

“The great stroke of luck on this flight was the pilots,” Channel 12 quoted a senior Israeli official as saying. “Otherwise, we would have been facing an incident straight out of September 2001 or July 1976.”

The official was referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist hijackings in the United States and the July 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight that was diverted to Entebbe, Uganda.

‘We just jumped and got him’

One of the passengers who helped subdue the assailant was Zvika Mans, CEO of Bank Leumi’s underwriting company, Barak Leumi, an investment-banking operation.

“It was an incredibly traumatic event,” Mans told financial outlet Calcalist.

“My wife was standing near the cockpit because my daughter was in the bathroom. Suddenly, she heard shouting coming from the cockpit. She shouted to a replacement pilot from Fiji who was sitting there: ‘Get in quickly, see what’s happening,’” he continued.

“He called for help, and two others and I entered the cockpit and subdued the attacker. I’m covered in blood. It was insane,” the CEO recounted.

He further said that the reserve pilot who landed the airplane was from Fiji, the stabbed pilot was from India, and the attacker was from Oman.

Another passenger who was apparently on board gave an account of the event in a video circulating on social media.

“We gained control over the flight,” the man said in Hebrew.

“There was a terrorist here with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots. We just jumped and got him [the attacker] out of the cockpit. A few guys. Now everything is okay... The terrorist is neutralized. There is a pilot who is seriously wounded. And apparently another pilot inside is slightly injured but is landing the plane.”

The new information followed earlier assessments that the incident was an altercation between the two pilots. An Israeli official initially told Reuters that the emergency signals were transmitted after the pilots became involved in a physical altercation.

The Prime Minister’s Office said earlier that the incident was determined not to have been a hijacking.

The aircraft was flying in Jordanian airspace when it first transmitted the 7700 transponder code, indicating a general emergency, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24. Several minutes later, it transmitted 7500, the international code indicating possible unlawful interference.

The plane subsequently transmitted the general emergency code again before landing in Tabuk.

The signals triggered an immediate security response in Israel, with Israeli Air Force fighter jets scrambled amid fears that an aircraft carrying Israeli passengers had been hijacked.

Netanyahu, Zamir hold consultations

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations on the incident, while IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir conducted a situational assessment with the commander of the Israeli Air Force and other senior military officials.

“Following concerns over an aviation incident, Prime Minister Netanyahu held consultations on the matter and is monitoring developments,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “The incident is under control and all measures are currently being deployed to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel.”

Video from aboard the aircraft showed passengers singing “Am Yisrael Chai” (“The people of Israel live”) moments after the plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia.

According to the Israeli Transportation Ministry, “Ben-Gurion Airport is operating as usual,” while the Israel Airports Authority said that “Israel’s airspace is open.” Earlier reports said departures from Israel had been temporarily halted as a precaution during the initial hijacking scare.

A second flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, FZ1081, was diverted back to Dubai on Wednesday while flying over Saudi Arabia, hours after the first incident.

Flydubai operates daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv. Israel and the United Arab Emirates established diplomatic relations in 2020 under the Abraham Accords. Saudi Arabia and Israel do not have diplomatic relations.

Regev demands halt to flydubai flights

Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev demanded that all flydubai flights to Israel be suspended following the suspected terrorist attack aboard the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight, according to Hebrew media reports.

Regev also asked the country’s Civil Aviation Authority to investigate whether the United Arab Emirates violated its aviation agreement with Israel. Under the agreement, pilots flying to Israel must hold passports from countries that have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

The co-pilot has been identified in unconfirmed reports as an Omani national. Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Oman.

Mossad, Shin Bet investigate

The Mossad and Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency) are investigating the circumstances surrounding the flydubai incident, as Israeli authorities increasingly suspect that one of the pilots deliberately attempted to crash the aircraft, Ynet reported.

The initial Israeli assessment indicated that one pilot tried to cause the aircraft to crash before the other pilot, with the help of Israeli passengers, managed to stop him, it said. The Israel Security Agency is expected to question the Israeli passengers upon their return to Israel as authorities seek to determine the motive behind the incident.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack, saying the suspect had “planned to crash a plane and murder the 180 Israelis aboard.”

He thanked God and the “heroic passengers,” while calling for Israel to continue its campaigns against its enemies in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and Judea and Samaria “until absolute victory.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid, meanwhile, rejected attempts to link the incident to a security briefing he received from Netanyahu the previous evening. Netanyahu had warned publicly on Tuesday of indications that Israel’s enemies were planning an attack, prompting supporters to cite the flydubai incident as vindication of his warning.

“Nothing even remotely resembling this morning’s plane incident appeared in the security update,” Lapid wrote on X, responding to government supporters who cited the flydubai incident in connection with Netanyahu’s warning. “Nothing similar, nothing reminiscent of it; not even a hint.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel should judge the perpetrator by his intent rather than the outcome.

“Anyone who tried to crash a plane and murder 180 Israelis should pay as though he murdered,” he wrote on X, adding that the same should apply to “any country or terrorist organization that sent him.”

Politics in Europe > Le Pen breaks through in French Senate; Five EU states threaten to block EU budget

 

Le Pen scores ‘historic victory’ in French Senate vote

Her National Rally party and an ally have won enough seats to form a group in the upper house for the first time

Published 28 Sep, 2026 17:54 | Updated 28 Sep, 2026 18:55

Marine Le Pen, French political leader and presidential candidate. © Getty Images / Chesnot

Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally (RN) and an allied party have won enough seats in the French Senate to form a group for the first time. The breakthrough comes months before a presidential election in which polls currently put Le Pen in the lead.

RN and the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) will together hold at least 15 seats in the 348-seat upper house following Sunday’s vote. A group requires a minimum of ten members and gives its lawmakers a greater role in Senate committees, where legislation is examined.

“This is a historic victory, and a major milestone with the formation for the first time of a group in the Senate,” Le Pen wrote on X. She said the result showed the party gaining support across France and that its senators would carry the concerns of local communities into the presidential campaign.

Despite RN’s latest gains, the Senate will remain controlled by the conservative Republicans and their centrist allies.

RN president Jordan Bardella has nevertheless called the result a sign of the party’s momentum ahead of what he described as “the mother of all battles,” referring to the upcoming presidential election.

Read more

Kiev’s backers facing ‘big problem’ after Macron exit – Telegraph

In July, the Paris Court of Appeals reduced Le Pen’s five-year ban on holding elected office over a misused funds conviction, clearing her to run in the 2027 race to replace Emmanuel Macron who will be leaving office after serving two terms.

A Toluna Harris Interactive poll published on Monday has placed Le Pen as the frontrunner at 35-36% in the first round and projected that she would defeat both left-wing France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon and centrist former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in hypothetical runoffs.

The RN breakthrough has drawn a hostile response from rival factions, including from Socialist Senate group leader Patrick Kanner, who said his party would work to contain the “chamber of horrors” entering the Senate.

Le Pen accused Kanner of “dishonoring himself” and insulting both the newly elected senators and the local officials who voted for them.

The prospect of Le Pen replacing Macron raised particular concerns among the Western backers of Ukraine. The Telegraph reported in August that officials fear her election could disrupt the French-led effort to coordinate military and financial support for Kiev, as well as plans to deploy Western troops there after a ceasefire.

RN has long challenged Macron’s approach to the Ukraine conflict, opposing open-ended funding for Kiev and steps it says risk a direct confrontation with Russia. Le Pen has repeatedly stressed that the conflict needs a diplomatic solution and has called for normalizing relations with Moscow.

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EU states push farm aid cuts to fund military buildup

Germany and five other countries have threatened to veto the bloc’s next budget unless Brussels cuts hundreds of billions in spending

Published 29 Sep, 2026 16:41 | Updated 29 Sep, 2026 17:45

FILE PHOTO. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz alongside the leaders of Austria, Denmark, and Finland. © Getty Images / Michele Tantussi

The EU’s next budget should be cut by hundreds of billions of euros and shift funding away from agricultural subsidies and towards military spending, Germany and five other member states have demanded, threatening to block a deal unless Brussels agrees to the reductions.

The ultimatum was set out in a letter, seen by the Financial Times, to Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency and is overseeing the budget negotiations.

It was signed by the leaders of Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Finland, which argued the EU must spend more on defense and other new priorities while reducing the European Commission’s proposed €2 trillion budget for 2028–2034.

The budget “must be fundamentally reformed. We must make choices,” the leaders wrote, according to the Financial Times. A diplomat from one of the six countries told the newspaper there would be no agreement this year unless spending was cut.

Read more

‘They are arming Europe so much that the only way out they have is to do a war’ - Lorenzo Maria Pacini

Agriculture and support for poorer regions have historically accounted for about two-thirds of the EU budget. However, the six countries are demanding that those resources be redirected toward defense, competitiveness and innovation, adding that every area of spending must contribute to the proposed cuts.

The EU’s seven-year budget requires unanimous approval from all 27 member states. However, 17 others, including Spain and Italy, have opposed the German-led group’s demands and have demanded that farm and regional funding be increased.

Berlin’s defense push comes as part of a wider military buildup across Europe, driven by unsubstantiated claims that Russia could attack NATO countries, which Moscow has repeatedly rejected.

Read more

Lavrov warns UN over EU warmongering: As it happened

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged to build the strongest conventional army in Europe, while his government has expanded the armed forces and is considering a return to conscription, despite tens of thousands of Germans vehemently opposing the idea.

The prospect of an imminent Russian attack has been challenged even within the six-country group. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said last week that Helsinki’s intelligence sees “no imminent military threat” from Moscow and he has urged European leaders to remain calm.

Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it has no reason or intention to attack Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that claims to the contrary are “nonsense” that is meant to ramp up anti-Russian hysteria and justify inflated military budgets and continued spending on Ukraine.

Addressing the UN General Assembly last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that the sheer scale of Europe’s military buildup could itself lead to a confrontation. He also accused the EU’s ruling elites of being infected with “the virus of racial superiority” and espousing extremist Russophobic ideas, while noting that Berlin’s attempts to achieve military primacy on the continent is an attempt to create a “Fourth Reich.”

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