Netanyahu calls stabbed Indian pilot a hero; Flydubai halts Israel flights

The Israeli prime minister thanks Captain Smit Machchhar for saving the lives of 174 people on board Tel Aviv-bound flight.

Netanyahu meets Flydubai passenger who helped subdue pilot in stabbing attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised the captain of a Flydubai jet as “a true hero” for saving the 174 people on board after he was stabbed by his co-pilot in what Israeli officials said was an attempt to bring down the plane.

Netanyahu’s comments on Wednesday came as Israel’s government said it would check the identities of all pilots flying into the country. Flydubai suspended flights to and from Israel as it investigates the episode on Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

list 1 of 3 Trump amazed that an ‘Israeli plumber’ helped land Flydubai flight

list 2 of 3 Netanyahu calls stabbed Indian pilot a hero; Flydubai halts Israel flights

list 3 of 3 Flydubai FZ1073 timeline: How the Israel-bound flight emergency unfolded

Netanyahu said the captain, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, “fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker”.

Despite being seriously wounded, he said Captain Machchhar prevented “a catastrophic mid-air disaster”.

“He is a true hero,” Netanyahu wrote on X.

The Boeing 737 Max 8 made an emergency landing in Tabuk, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, following the incident. According to flight-tracking service Flightradar24, the plane dropped from 33,000 feet (about 10,000 metres) to 17,000ft (about 5,200 metres) in about a minute.

Netanyahu said in a video that most of the passengers were Israeli and that the co-pilot had “apparently intended to bring the aircraft down as it approached Israel”. The co-pilot remains unidentified. The Israeli prime minister said Saudi authorities arrested the co-pilot after the landing and interrogated him.

A motive for the incident has not been established.

Israel to vet pilots

Flydubai, owned by the United Arab Emirates government, described the incident as an “altercation in the cockpit” and said that on-duty crew members had “diverted and landed the aircraft safely”. The airline said it was suspending flights to and from Israel while an investigation continued.

The UAE’s aviation regulator, the GCAA, said the flight “experienced a security incident that was brought under control”.

Doron Spielman, a spokesman for Netanyahu, said Israel would now vet the identities of all pilots flying into the country.

“Every pilot that is going to be flying into Israel, we are going to know the pilots’ identities, know who they are, and do some type of security check,” he told the Reuters news agency.

United States President Donald Trump said he spoke to Netanyahu about the incident and was informed that an Israeli plumber intervened to stop the plane from crashing.

“It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack-job, and he stabbed the pilot,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The pilot “was able to fall back and get the door open and scream”.

“An Israeli plumber saw what was happening,” the US president said. “The plane was going sharply down at an unbelievable angle, so sharp that the rudder ripped off the back of the plane… He ripped this guy out of the seat, threw him back. The crowd got him. The passengers got him, grabbed him. And having never flown aboard a plane, he took the stick, lifted it up and levelled out the plane before it crashed.”

A rescue flight operated by Flydubai flew all passengers from Tabuk to their final destination, Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, at 15:34 GMT.

‘We’re going to die’

Passengers described the episode as a miracle and recounted a frantic struggle to prevent a catastrophe.

Yaniv Hayun, who had entered the cockpit, said he had grabbed the controls and pulled them back, as he had seen done on television, until members of the crew took over.

Netanyahu’s office released a video of the prime minister embracing Hayun at Ben Gurion airport. Hayun was still wearing the bloodstained shirt he had on during the flight.

Asaf Rajuan, who helped restrain the attacker, spoke with blood still on his forehead.

“This is something you do without thinking, just running to save your daughter’s life, your family’s life,” he said.

Another passenger, Almog Italie, said the plane dropped “very, very sharply”, stabilised, then fell several more times.

Naama Bershadski said she closed her eyes and prayed, thinking, “We’re going to die.”

India’s Embassy in Riyadh said Captain Machchhar, “the brave Indian pilot of Flydubai”, has been “admitted in a hospital in Tabuk city in northwest Saudi Arabia” and is “receiving necessary medical attention”.

The embassy said it was awaiting a full update on the pilot’s health, but that “he is reported to be in stable condition”.

以色列总理感谢斯密特·马赫哈尔机长拯救了飞往特拉维夫航班上 174 人的生命。

内塔尼亚胡会见了在刺杀事件中协助制服飞行员的迪拜航空乘客

以色列总理本杰明·内塔尼亚胡称赞迪拜航空一架客机的机长是“真正的英雄”，因为他在被副驾驶刺伤后，拯救了机上 174 人的生命。以色列官员称，副驾驶试图击落这架飞机。

内塔尼亚胡周三发表上述言论之际，以色列政府表示将核查所有飞往该国的飞行员的身份。迪拜航空已暂停往返以色列的航班，并对迪拜飞往特拉维夫的FZ1073航班事件展开调查。

列表 1/3：特朗普对一名“以色列水管工”帮助迪拜航空降落航班感到惊讶

列表 2/3：内塔尼亚胡称被刺伤的印度飞行员为英雄；迪拜航空暂停以色列航班

Flydubai FZ1073航班事件时间线（共3条）：飞往以色列的航班紧急情况是如何发生的

内塔尼亚胡表示，机长斯密特·马赫查尔（Smit Machchhar）是印度公民，“奋起反抗，打开驾驶舱门，使乘客和机组人员能够制服袭击者”。

尽管身负重伤，他表示马赫查尔上尉阻止了一场“灾难性的空中事故”。

“他是一位真正的英雄，”内塔尼亚胡在X上写道。

事故发生后，这架波音737 Max 8飞机在沙特阿拉伯西北部的塔布克紧急迫降。据航班追踪服务网站Flightradar24的数据显示，飞机在大约一分钟内从33000英尺（约10000米）的高度下降到17000英尺（约5200米）。

内塔尼亚胡在一段视频中表示，机上大部分乘客是以色列人，副驾驶“显然意图在飞机接近以色列时将其击落”。副驾驶的身份至今仍未确定。这位以色列总理称，沙特当局在飞机着陆后逮捕了副驾驶并对其进行了审讯。

事件动机尚未确定。

以色列将对飞行员进行审查

阿联酋政府所有的迪拜航空公司（Flydubai）将此次事件描述为“驾驶舱内的争执”，并表示值班机组人员已“安全改道并降落飞机”。该航空公司表示，在调查期间，将暂停往返以色列的航班。

阿联酋民航总局表示，该航班“发生了一起安全事件，但已得到控制”。

内塔尼亚胡的发言人多伦·斯皮尔曼表示，以色列现在将审查所有飞往该国的飞行员的身份。

“对于每一位飞往以色列的飞行员，我们都会了解他们的身份，知道他们是谁，并进行某种安全检查，”他告诉路透社。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普表示，他已就此事与内塔尼亚胡进行了交谈，并得知一名以色列水管工介入阻止了飞机坠毁。

“看起来副驾驶可能是个恐怖分子，也可能是个疯子，他刺伤了飞行员，”特朗普在椭圆形办公室告诉记者。“飞行员设法向后退，打开舱门并发出尖叫。”

美国总统说：“一位以色列水管工目睹了当时的情景。飞机以难以置信的角度急剧下降，角度之大，以至于方向舵都从机尾脱落了……他一把将那人从座位上拽下来，扔了回去。人群接住了他，乘客们也抓住了他。尽管从未坐过飞机，他还是拿起操纵杆，抬起机头，在飞机坠毁前稳住了飞机。”

一架由迪拜航空运营的救援航班于格林尼治标准时间 15:34 将所有乘客从塔布克送往他们的最终目的地特拉维夫本古里安机场。

“我们要死了”

乘客们将这一事件描述为奇迹，并讲述了为防止灾难发生而进行的惊险挣扎。

进入驾驶舱的亚尼夫·哈云说，他像在电视上看到的那样，抓住操纵杆并向后拉，直到机组人员接管为止。

内塔尼亚胡办公室发布了一段视频，视频中总理在本古里安机场拥抱了哈云。哈云当时还穿着他在飞机上穿的那件沾满血迹的衬衫。

帮助制服袭击者的阿萨夫·拉胡安说话时额头上还沾着血迹。

“这是你下意识就会做的事情，只是为了救你女儿的命，救你家人的命，”他说。

另一名乘客阿尔莫格·伊塔利说，飞机“非常、非常急剧地”下降，然后稳定下来，之后又下降了好几次。

娜玛·贝尔沙德斯基说，她闭上眼睛祈祷，心想：“我们要死了。”

印度驻利雅得大使馆表示，迪拜航空“勇敢的印度飞行员”马赫查尔机长已被送往沙特阿拉伯西北部塔布克市的一家医院接受治疗，目前正在接受必要的医疗护理。

大使馆表示正在等待有关该飞行员健康状况的全面最新消息，但“据报道他目前情况稳定”。