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.
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.”
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