Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that one pilot on a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight stabbed the other and “apparently” tried to crash the aircraft. In the flydubai FZ1073 case, the plane diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely, according to CBS News. For background, read our earlier report on the FZ1073 diversion. The airline describes only an “altercation” in the flight deck and says the motive is unknown.
What Netanyahu said
Netanyahu’s video statement, delivered Wednesday, laid out what Israeli officials believe happened as the aircraft was approaching Israel. “As they were approaching Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and apparently attempted to crash the plane with everyone on board,” Netanyahu said, in wording reported by CBS News from a Hebrew-language original. Translations differ slightly between outlets. In other developing stories, Manchester City found guilty over 114 financial charges, and we are also tracking Iran sanctions and China’s barter response.
The prime minister called the episode a “very serious security incident” and noted that almost all of the passengers were Israeli, according to NBC. He said he had spoken with a passenger on the flight, who told him he and a crew member broke into the cockpit and together subdued the attacker, Euronews reported. This account of the takeover of the cockpit comes from passenger testimony relayed by Netanyahu, not from an independent Israeli finding.
Netanyahu praised the passengers and crew members who intervened, and said the pilot who carried out the stabbing is under arrest and “being questioned by the Saudi authorities,” CBS News reported. Saudi Arabia has not independently confirmed the arrest or the interrogation.
The attack mid-flight
The aircraft squawked 7700, the general-emergency transponder code, at 05:28:48 UTC — about 1:28 a.m. ET — per Flightradar24, which also reports that it briefly squawked 7500, the code for unlawful interference, before returning to 7700. The distress call requesting an emergency landing came at 8:44 a.m. local time, and the plane landed at Tabuk at 9:45 a.m., according to the airport operator’s statement, reported by The Times of Israel.
Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon told AFP that the aircraft was “pretty much out of control” during the stabbing, which she said took place over Jordan, and that the flight was “really on the way to crashing” until people took control of the co-pilot. Her mother, Yasmin Abukasis, told AFP that Ohayon had said one pilot tried to kill the other with a knife, and that two other pilots on board took charge and diverted to Saudi Arabia. Onboard video verified by NBC showed bloodied people on the floor with a crowd gathered around them.
What flydubai and Saudi officials say
flydubai said “an altercation occurred in the flight deck of flight FZ 1073,” that the aircraft “was successfully secured by on-duty flydubai crew travelling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk Airport (TUU),” and that “all passengers and crew are safe and accounted for,” Flightradar24’s blog reported in reproducing the airline’s statement. The airline deployed two replacement aircraft to Tabuk and said other scheduled operations were not affected.
The Tabuk airport operator confirmed that the captain and co-pilot “were found to have injuries and were transported to hospital,” without giving details of the nature or severity of the injuries, according to The Times of Israel. Saudi authorities are continuing to investigate, and passengers were assisted in the terminal.
flydubai has not said which pilot attacked which and has not endorsed the terror characterization. “At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation,” the airline said, urging all parties to “refrain from premature speculation.”
Katz calls it attempted terror attack
Defence Minister Israel Katz, in a written statement quoted by CBS News, called the episode “an attempted jihadist terror attack, which was thwarted only thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist, and with their own hands returned control of the aircraft to an additional flight crew that was present.” He added, according to Fox News, that “the terrorist had one intention: to crash the aircraft with everyone on board.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was the first Israeli official to publicly allege an attempted “terrorist” attack.
Still unknown
Much about the incident remains unresolved. The motive is unknown and under formal investigation. The nationalities of the pilots are disputed: Ynet and i24 report an Omani attacker and an Emirati captain, while other Israeli outlets have reported Russian and Ukrainian pilots; no official Saudi, Emirati, or Omani confirmation exists. Three Israeli officials told Reuters the co-pilot stabbed the captain in a possible attempted “terror attack,” with one identifying the attacker as an Omani national — a claim that has not been independently verified — while Ynet has reported that the stabbed pilot may have been the one who tried to crash the aircraft, contradicting the co-pilot-as-attacker account, The National reported. Reporting shifted during the day: Channel 12 initially said the incident appeared not to be security-related and officials were checking whether the distress signal was triggered accidentally during an argument, before Israeli reporting moved to the terror framing.
What to watch next: the outcome of the Saudi-led investigation, any Saudi or Emirati confirmation of the pilots’ identities and nationalities, and further statements from Israeli and flydubai officials as the questioning of the suspect proceeds.
