by Amichai Stein, James Genn, Yonah Jeremy Bob, Zvika Klein
Israeli official says “major disaster avoided” after pilot stabbed his co-pilot, attempted to hijack aircraft with over 100 Israeli passengers • Plane makes emergency landing in Saudi Arabia
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One hundred and seventy-four Israeli passengers were returned to Ben-Gurion Airport Tuesday evening after a stunning series of events in which multiple passengers helped restrain an Omani hijacker-pilot who attempted to crash the airplane earlier in the day.
The passengers were initially on a flydubai commercial passenger aircraft flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, but then the pilot-hijacker, who was the deputy pilot for the flight, stabbed the lead pilot and tried to crash the aircraft before as many as four passengers wounded him and tied him up.
An additional flight crew on board were then able to handle landing the plane in Saudi Arabia, though the original pilot, a native of India, was in critical condition, having been stabbed repeatedly by the Omani pilot.
One of the Israeli passengers was a medical professional who helped stem the bleeding of the Indian pilot, who was reportedly in stable condition in Saudi Arabia.
Some of the passengers who managed to restore control of the plane credited the Indian pilot for opening the cockpit for them even after he had been stabbed, so that they could provide assistance.
Passengers returned safely to Israel with help of Mossad despite Saudi plane refusal
After around six hours in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, a second flydubai aircraft, with a new staff, specially approved by the Mossad, came through Saudi Arabia and flew the Israeli passengers back to Israel.
Part of the delay came due to a refusal by the Saudis to allow an Israeli air force or commercial El Al aircraft, that would have arrived earlier, to bring them back to the Jewish state, with Riyadh fearing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would use the event as an election and normalization prop.
There was even a proposal for an aircraft to arrive without markings, but ultimately the Saudis said no.
A source close to the Saudi royal family told The Jerusalem Post that “Israel needs to understand that normalization cannot be forced.”
Another delay came when many Israeli passengers initially refused to get on the new flydubai aircraft, insisting they would only leave Saudi Arabia on an Israeli aircraft.
Eventually, they gave in on the issue when told this was their only choice for being rescued.
So far, multiple sources have told the Post that the Mossad, Shin Bet, IDF, and Transportation Ministry believe the hijacker was a lone wolf, not under orders from Iran or another terror group.
There is a partial disconnect in the investigation since the Saudis are leading the interrogation of the hijacker, with Israel receiving information from Riyadh secondhand or from passengers who spoke with the hijacker after he was subdued.
A number of failures are being probed by the joint Israeli security team, including why the Omani pilot was not properly checked for weapons possession, since he had a weapon with him in the cockpit with which to stab his co-pilot.
The Saudis are also probing how the United Arab Emirates allowed an Omani citizen to pilot an aircraft flying to Israel, given explicit agreements between the countries that this would not occur.
There were mixed reports about who was advocating a temporary ban on flights between the UAE and Israel until these issues were resolved, but some credited Shin Bet Director David Zini with leading the charge on that issue.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev eventually endorsed this position, though some earlier reports indicated she initially resisted Zini on the issue.
The Shin Bet declined to confirm or deny the alleged dispute, but anonymous leaks seemed to frame Zini as having warned even before the event about insufficient security surrounding UAE-Israeli flights.
But even Zini reportedly was more concerned about security for Israelis while in the UAE, not about a rogue pilot trying to crash an aircraft he was piloting.
Aircraft carrying 174 passengers plunges 4,000 meters
Further, they are probing what the Omani pilot’s full intentions were: whether to crash the plane nowhere specific with the focus on killing the passengers or whether he had hoped to crash it in an urban setting in Israel to achieve “bonus” additional Israeli casualties.
During the altercation, the aircraft plunged about 4,000 meters, an official noted.
The aircraft, operating as flight FZ1073 and carrying 174 passengers, initially transmitted squawk code 7700, indicating a general emergency, before switching to 7500, which signals unlawful interference, and later reverting to the initial code.
Israeli media reported later on Wednesday that 166 of the passengers onboard were Israelis.
As the incident unfolded, the Israel Air Force (IAF) scrambled fighter jets in preparation for a possible emergency and raised its alert level.
Israeli airspace was also temporarily closed and later reopened after the plane landed in Saudi Arabia.
Israeli sources later told the Post that the UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan spoke with Netanyahu after the hijacking attempt.
When the Israeli passengers returned to Israel, they cheered spontaneously, and there was raucous dancing for them at Ben-Gurion Airport.
One of the heroic passengers met with Netanyahu, while multiple passengers interviewed with the media about their heroic and harrowing experience.
Several passengers said that if not for the small number of passengers who rushed the Omani pilot, they would all have died.
In related news, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir canceled his planned trip to the United States due to the ongoing situation. Zamir was slated to meet with US Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper, the Post confirmed.
Yasmin Abu Kasis, whose daughter Miriam was on the flight, said that her daughter had told her that she had heard screaming and that a man took a knife, put the pilot on the floor, and that there was blood everywhere.
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 emergency, the Post reported at the time.
Similar incidents elsewhere have led to immediate suspensions.
In 2022, two Air France pilots were suspended after physically confronting each other in the cockpit during a flight from Geneva to Paris. Crew members had to separate them, and one of the pilots remained in the cockpit until landing.
An even more serious incident occurred in 2009 on an Air India flight from Sharjah, UAE, to New Delhi, India, when pilots and crew members exchanged blows, and the altercation spilled over from the cockpit into the aircraft’s galley. Two pilots and two crew members were suspended, and police launched an investigation
Shir Perets, Amir Bohbot, Eli Leon, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Amichai Stein, James Genn, Yonah Jeremy Bob, Zvika Klein
Source: https://www.jpost.com/international/article-910155
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