Gaza Genocide · updated 44m ago · 2 min read
Netanyahu Says Israel Will Join Flydubai Investigation Into Oman Co-Pilot Attack
Israel will join the Flydubai incident investigation to determine Iran involvement. Co-pilot stabbed the captain; passengers subdued the attacker; plane diverted to Tabuk.
41 outlets told this the same way.
Outlets did split on Lebanese Army Says Israeli Strike Triggered Explosion of Suspicious Object Injuring Four →
9 of 11 outlets skipped it: pilot identity controversy: attacker described as Omani, no immediate Oman comment.
41outlets compared
Cockpit attack and diversion
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would join the investigation into the Flydubai incident and that investigators could soon determine whether Iran had any connection to the event, while he told Jim Sciutto of CNN that he still did not have information enabling attribution to Tehran. Netanyahu said the aggressor co-pilot was “a citizen of Oman,” and he recounted that an Israeli passenger, a plumber named Yaniv, ran toward the cockpit after hearing screams as the aircraft approached Israel.
Netanyahu described the Indian pilot who had been stabbed as “showed incredible heroism” by managing, despite profuse bleeding, to unlock the cockpit door, and he said the passenger burst in, saw the attacker leaning over the instruments, and helped restrain the attacker. Flydubai is suspending all flights between its hub in the United Arab Emirates and Israel after the incident involving flight FZ 1073 on 30 September, and the airline said the suspension would continue while authorities “establish all the facts surrounding the incident.”
Passengers, pilot, and airline
Netanyahu praised the “tremendous courage” of those who helped prevent the crash, and he told Fox News' Sean Hannity that the pilot was being investigated in Saudi Arabia, while the BBC also quoted Almog Itali describing the drop as “like a rollercoaster” and saying the plane “was falling down for 20 or 30 seconds rapidly.” Netanyahu wrote that the stabbed pilot “saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” and the injured pilot was identified as Indian national Smit Machchhar.
Netanyahu ordered authorities to “ramp up” security on both Israeli carriers and non-Israeli carriers, while the incident remained under investigation and the cockpit details were described as not yet fully established. CNBC said Netanyahu wrote that the stabbed pilot “saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” and it reported that the injured pilot was identified as Indian national Smit Machchhar.
What comes next and what’s at stake
Netanyahu said he hoped the suspect would be transferred to the United Arab Emirates after being interrogated in Saudi Arabia, and he added that “So we will know very soon if Iran had anything to do with it, but I cannot affirm it until the interrogation concludes.” Israeli officials were investigating whether the incident was an attempted terror attack on Israelis, and Netanyahu described the passenger who broke into the cockpit as helping “neutralised” the attacking pilot.
“So we will know very soon if Iran had anything to do with it, but I cannot affirm it until the interrogation concludes.”
Passengers were returned to Ben-Gurion Airport after a series of events in which multiple passengers helped restrain an Omani hijacker-pilot who attempted to crash the airplane, and delays tied to Saudi refusal to allow an Israeli air force or commercial El Al aircraft to bring them back were reported. The Boeing 737 plane transmitted squawk code 7700, indicating a general emergency, before switching to 7500, which signals unlawful interference, and the plane landed at Tabuk airport in north-western Saudi Arabia with both pilots taken to hospital after sustaining injuries.