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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that one of the pilots of a flydubai plane bound for Tel Aviv had planned to crash the aircraft and kill its mostly Israeli passengers, after the flight made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia had arrested the co-pilot and was interrogating him after the incident aboard flydubai flight FZ1073.
“During the flight, as they approached the country, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot, and apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board,” Netanyahu said in a video message, calling the passengers “heroes” who “prevented a major disaster.”
“The stabbing pilot has been arrested and is currently being interrogated by the Saudi authorities,” Netanyahu said.
He added that Israel was preparing for other “potential threats” after the incident.
Meanwhile, UAE based airliner Flydubai on Wednesday said the reasons for an altercation that "occurred in the flight deck of flight FZ 1073" remained unknown and were under formal investigation.
"At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation. We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts," a flydubai spokesperson said in a statement.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the incident as an “attempted jihadist terror attack,” while other Israeli ministers also treated the emergency landing as an attempted attack, even though authorities had not yet publicly established the motive behind the cockpit incident.
The incident came days before the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the incident was caused by a “terrorist” who intended to crash the aircraft and kill Israelis.
“The naive notion that our enemies cherish life and that we should pity them received another reminder this morning in the form of a terrorist who planned to crash a plane and murder the 180 Israelis on board,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement.
Ben-Gvir said Israel should respond by escalating its military campaigns across the region, saying the country “must continue until achieving total victory” in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also described the incident as a deliberate attempt to kill Israelis and called for those he said were responsible to be treated as though the attempt had succeeded.
“The State of Israel must address the intent and not the results,” Smotrich said on X. “Whoever tried to crash a plane and murder 180 Israelis must pay as if he murdered. He and every state or terrorist organization that sent him.”
The statements came as Israeli officials increasingly raised the possibility of a deliberate attack, despite conflicting accounts earlier in the day about what had occurred aboard the aircraft.
Two Israeli officials told Reuters that authorities believed the co-pilot may have deliberately attempted to bring down the plane after attacking the captain, and that the incident was being assessed as a possible attempted “terror attack.”
No public finding establishing the motive has been announced.
Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon said one of the pilots tried to crash the plane and kill everyone on board after both pilots were found wounded when the aircraft landed in Saudi Arabia.
“The plane was pretty much out of control,” Ohayon told reporters by speakerphone held up by her mother, who was waiting at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
“So the co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane,” she said.
“It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralized him,” she added.
Ohayon said a doctor gave first aid and passengers treated both pilots.
“Other than the pilot, there were no injuries, but the bigger fear was really a crash, which is exactly what he was trying to do,” she said.
In a video from inside the plane that was reposted by Israeli social media users, one passenger, blood dripping from an open wound on his head, pleaded for assistance and said they were descending into Saudi Arabia, with which Israel has no diplomatic relations.
“We are here during an attack on the plane. We just subdued the terrorists and are preparing to land,” the man said in Hebrew.
“Anyone who can hear me, we need help. We are about to land in Tabuk, apparently in Saudi Arabia. An unknown area. All the passengers are safe and well, except for the pilot. We need help,” he said.
Yasmin Abukasis, Ohayon’s mother, said her daughter was on the flight to attend a service for her brother, who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
“She said one pilot tried to kill the other pilot with a knife. They heard shouting,” Abukasis told AFP.
Another passenger went to the cockpit “and saw a lot of blood,” she said.
“She started screaming ‘come help’ and some people went in and caught the guy,” Abukasis said.
“All the while, the plane started going down very fast. People thought they were going to die,” she added.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8, operating as flydubai flight FZ1073, was traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
The flight was carrying 174 passengers, according to Israeli media.
Flydubai said FZ1073 had “experienced an incident while en route” and said all passengers were safe and accounted for.
The company operating Tabuk Airport said the aircraft made an emergency landing at 9:45 a.m. local time and that the captain and co-pilot were found injured and taken to a hospital.
Around 90 minutes after takeoff, while entering Jordanian airspace, the aircraft transmitted code 7700, the international signal for a general emergency, according to Israeli daily Ynet.
It subsequently transmitted code 7500, which is used to indicate unlawful interference with an aircraft, including a possible hijacking.
According to Flightradar data cited by AFP, the aircraft suddenly lost altitude during the flight, dropping from nearly 34,000 feet at 5:21 a.m. GMT to less than 17,000 feet at 5:22 a.m. GMT.
At around the same time, the aircraft changed course, returned to Saudi airspace and began flying at a lower altitude before eventually landing in Tabuk.
Israeli media reported that two other pilots were flying as passengers and took over the controls to carry out the emergency landing.
Neither the airline nor authorities in the countries involved immediately provided details on what happened aboard the plane or on the pilots’ nationalities.
Some Israeli media said one pilot was Omani and the other Emirati.
The incident triggered a security response in Israel after the aircraft transmitted the 7500 code.
Israeli media reported that fighter jets were scrambled during the initial uncertainty over the flight.
Netanyahu and Katz held consultations after the incident, and Netanyahu’s office said the premier was “monitoring developments.”
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu and Katz ordered military aircraft to be prepared to travel to Saudi Arabia to bring back the Israeli passengers.
Flydubai later informed Israeli authorities that a replacement aircraft would instead be sent from Dubai to Saudi Arabia to return the passengers, according to Ynet.
At Ben Gurion Airport, families gathered to await the return of their relatives.
In photos sent to AFP by one of the passengers, travelers, including children, were seen gathered in an airport lounge, with some sitting on the floor, while one man wore a white T-shirt and jeans stained with blood.
An AFP correspondent in Tabuk saw heavy security near the airport, with several police vehicles and an ambulance parked at the terminal. Access to the terminal remained open.
The incident came as tensions remained high across the Middle East amid the regional war that erupted in late February with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
It also came ahead of close-fought Israeli elections scheduled for Oct. 27.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said there were “indications” that Israel’s enemies could try to attack ahead of the elections, remarks that drew accusations of “fearmongering” from the opposition.
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