The leaders of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Shin Bet and the Mossad have conducted an assessment of the emergency that occurred on board the Flydubai plane which left Dubai and headed for Tel Aviv and are following the trail of a terrorist attack. The Ynet website reports this, explaining that following the assessment at the top of Israeli security ''the belief is spreading that the Flydubai plane crash was a terrorist attack''. The co-pilot would be the suspect of having attempted to crash the plane: Ynet explains that after the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia the man was handed over to the Saudi authorities for questioning. He would be accused of having stabbed the commander, an Emirati national, and of attempting to crash the plane: an Omani with dual citizenship he would have been on duty on the Emirates airline's flights for less than a year.
Regarding the investigation Israel is conducting, the Shin Bet will question the Israeli passengers of the Flydubai flight once they return to Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu and Katz's statements
"I pay tribute to the heroes on board the flight from Dubai, who demonstrated readiness, courage and resourcefulness. I have instructed the security apparatus to prepare to face any further threats," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an official statement. ''We are in constant contact with relevant countries to ensure the safe return of passengers to Israel,'' added the Israeli prime minister. 'The co-pilot stabbed the commander and apparently intended to crash the plane,'' Netanyahu said. ''I spoke to one of the Israeli passengers who intervened to stop the attacker, they showed incredible courage, they prevented a huge tragedy,'' added the prime minister, specifying that the stabber is currently under interrogation by the Saudi authorities.
''The serious accident on the FlyDubai plane was an attempted jihadist attack, foiled only thanks to the heroism of some Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist and, with their own hands, returned control of the plane to another member of the pilot crew present on site''. Defense Minister Israel Katz said this in a statement. ''According to the first information in our possession, the terrorist's intent was only one: to crash the plane with all the passengers," he said.
What we know
A Flydubai airliner (FZ 1073) flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv had briefly reported an emergency by transmitting a code indicating a hijacking, descended to a suspicious altitude and diverted its route towards Saudi Arabia. Two Israeli Air Force fighters had been urgently scrambled. The plane then landed in Saudi Arabia at the Tabuk airport. FlyDubai airline announced: "The pilots had a scuffle in the cockpit during the flight, until one of them lost consciousness. This was not a security incident." In a statement, the Emirati company said: "Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities. Further updates will be released as further confirmed details become available", confirming that the flight "suffered an accident en route. The aircraft landed safely at Tabuk Airport and all passengers are safe and sound. The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew remains our highest priority."
According to flight tracking data, reported by FlightRadar and cited by the Times of Israel, the plane had initially broadcast the transponder code 7700, an international emergency signal. Shortly after, however, it sent the code 7500, which indicates a hijacking or an act of unlawful interference. Flightradar24 announced that the plane dropped from a height of 9,400 meters to 5,100 meters, thus losing 4,000 meters of altitude in just 29 seconds. The approximately 180 passengers on the plane had been ordered to remain seated and not disembark, except for the pilots.
Channel 12's version
According to Channel 12, a second team of pilots in civilian clothes was on board the plane. These would be the passengers who prevented one of the pilots from taking control of the aircraft. A senior Israeli official told the news outlet that if the pilots had not been on board the plane, the incident could have had an epilogue similar to the attacks of September 11, 2001 or the 1976 Entebbe hostage-taking. A woman who was on board as a passenger said: "We heard screams on the plane. Then they opened the cockpit and we saw blood: someone had stabbed the pilot with a penknife." She added that some Israeli passengers, together with crew members, helped immobilize the attacker. “We prayed, 'Shema Yisrael,'” he said. “There were even times when we thought we wouldn't make it out alive.”
Another woman, who identified herself as Noam, said that "there were screams from the passengers on the plane when they realized what was happening. We realized that one of the pilots had been stabbed and seriously injured, and that they had lost control of the plane. It started to fall rapidly. It was really scary."
In-depth analysis
Dubai-Tel Aviv flight, what we know about the dispute between pilots on the plane
The position of the Israeli government
Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz had called an urgent security meeting. Then came the note from Netanyahu's office: "Following concerns regarding a plane crash, Prime Minister Netanyahu has held consultations on the matter and is closely monitoring developments. The crash is currently under control and all necessary measures have been put in place to ensure the safe return of Israeli passengers to Israel." Meanwhile, the planned visit to the Gaza Strip by Netanyahu, Katz and the IDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, has been cancelled. The decision - the Israeli media report - is linked to suspicions that the episode may have had security implications.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote in He added: "Israel has done an extraordinary job in the last two and a half years, but we must not stop and we must continue until absolute victory in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and Judea and Samaria (West Bank)."
Israel suspends FlyDubai flights
Israeli media report that Transport Minister Miri Regev has requested the suspension of Flydubai flights to Israel pending an investigation into the accident. The minister would also have asked the Civil Aviation Authority to verify whether the United Arab Emirates has violated the bilateral agreements between the United Arab Emirates and Israel which require that the pilots on that specific route belong to countries that have normalized diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, and Oman is not among them. It is therefore hypothesized that the attacker may have used dual citizenship to bypass the controls and get assigned to the flight.
El Al is preparing to bring home Israelis who are abroad: the Israeli national airline said it had received "numerous requests" from Israelis who intend to return on its flights and announced the opening of a WhatsApp line dedicated to bookings.
The company is also preparing a special flight from Bangkok to bring citizens in Thailand back to Israel in the next few days. As the Times of Israel highlights, El Al stock rose more than 7% following the news.
