Pilot stabbed co-pilot in apparent bid to crash Israel-bound plane, Netanyahu says

Two and a half hours into a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, the cockpit became a battleground. A pilot stabbed his co-pilot, then moved to disable the aircraft's controls. The plane dropped 17,000 feet in two minutes. What happened next—the passengers who forced their way in, the off-duty pilots who grabbed the yoke, the wounded captain who opened the door despite his injuries—prevented what Israeli officials now believe was an attempt to murder everyone aboard.

Flight FZ 1073, operated by flydubai, was carrying 174 people when the attack began. Passengers heard screaming from the front of the cabin and felt the sickening lurch of the dive. One of them, Yaniv Hayoun, described forcing his way into the cockpit and finding the attacker at the instrument panel. He put the man in a chokehold and dragged him away, then grabbed the controls himself, pulling them the way he'd seen on television. Other crew members took over from there, stabilizing the descent and guiding the plane toward an emergency landing in northwestern Saudi Arabia at Tabuk airport.

The co-pilot, Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, had been stabbed multiple times. Despite his serious injuries, he fought back against his attacker, resisted, and managed to open the cockpit door—the act that allowed passengers and crew to rush in and subdue the man. A doctor traveling on the flight treated his wounds. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credited Machchhar with saving everyone aboard. "Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker," Netanyahu said.

The attacker was an Omani national, according to Israeli officials speaking anonymously. He was taken into custody by Saudi authorities for questioning. Israeli officials have assessed the incident as a terror attack, though the motive remains unclear. Defense Minister Israel Katz called it an "attempted jihadist attack." The foreign ministry briefed Israeli diplomats worldwide that the incident was an "attempted terrorist attack against Israelis, the United Arab Emirates, and the Abraham Accords"—the 2020 normalization agreement between Israel and the UAE. Donald Trump, speaking to reporters after a call with Netanyahu, acknowledged the uncertainty: "It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack-job, and he stabbed the pilot."

Among those who intervened were relief pilots aboard the flight—one of them British, according to passenger Almog Itali. These off-duty pilots, meant to fly the next leg of the journey, entered the cockpit and pulled the aircraft's yoke to stabilize it. Israeli security forces and air marshals also helped subdue the attacker, according to sources close to the Saudi investigation cited by the Associated Press. Videos from the incident showed passengers screaming as the plane descended, and a blood-covered man on the cockpit floor.

The emergency unfolded in stages. Two and a half hours after takeoff from Dubai, the plane transmitted squawk code 7700—a general emergency signal—followed by code 7500, indicating a potential hijacking. Israeli fighter jets were scrambled as officials feared an attack on Israel or that the plane would be diverted elsewhere. As more details emerged about the violence in the cockpit, Israeli and international media began reporting that officials were investigating whether this was a deliberate attack on Israelis.

The 174 passengers and crew landed safely in Saudi Arabia eight hours after the emergency landing, they were flown to Israel on a replacement aircraft. Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon told reporters via her mother's phone at Tel Aviv airport that a pilot had attempted to "basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane." "It was really on the way to crashing," she said. Netanyahu praised the crew and passengers who subdued the attacker. "They saved many lives. They prevented a heavy disaster."

Flydubai suspended flights to and from Israel while investigations continue. The incident marks the most serious aviation security breach Israel has faced in decades—the country experienced hijackings and attacks on planes by Palestinian militants in the 1960s and 1970s, but nothing similar since. Israel maintains some of the world's strictest airport security procedures, including security checks before passengers board Israel-bound flights. The head of the Israeli military postponed a visit to the United States to address the incident. Israeli officials are conducting a joint investigation with the defense establishment, while Saudi authorities question the accused pilot and work to establish what motivated the attack.