“SOMETHING YOU DO WITHOUT THINKING”
A Netanyahu spokesperson told Reuters that the wounded captain, identified by the Israeli leader’s office as Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, was covered with blood on the floor when he managed to click the release to open the cockpit door.
Passengers who entered found the co-pilot bashing at the plane’s control panel, the spokesperson said.
“This is something you do without thinking, just running to save your daughter’s life, your family’s life,” said Asaf Rajuan, one of the passengers who helped restrain the attacker. He spoke with a forehead still bloodied from the struggle.
Netanyahu’s office released a video showing the prime minister at Ben Gurion Airport giving a hug to another passenger, Yaniv Hayun, who his office said “broke into” the cockpit.
“I see you and I see a lion – a big hero,” Netanyahu told the man, who was still wearing the blood-stained shirt he had on during the flight.
The Israeli prime minister also hailed the wounded pilot for his “extraordinary bravery”, praising him for fighting back despite being wounded and “preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster”.
Indian authorities in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar is receiving necessary medical attention in a hospital in the northwestern city of Tabuk and they are in touch with his family and Saudi authorities to extend all possible help.
He is reported to be stable, the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said in a post on X.
Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport said both pilots had been hospitalised after sustaining injuries.
Flydubai operates daily return flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv, a route that is popular among Israeli nationals. The flight path normally uses airspace over Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
It is not the first time a flight between Israel and the UAE has landed in Saudi Arabia. A flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Riyadh in September 2025 due to a medical incident, Israeli media reported at the time.
The latest incident heightened security fears in Israel weeks before Israelis vote in the first election since the Hamas-led Oct 7, 2023, attacks, with Israel’s security figuring prominently in the campaigning.
Responding to the incident on X, far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote, “Terrorism is a devil with whom no agreement must be reached.”
