President of Israel to honor passengers who prevented Flydubai plane crash

The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, announced this Thursday (1st) that he will decorate the four Israeli passengers who, on Wednesday (30th), overpowered the co-pilot of a Flydubai flight between Dubai and Tel Aviv. According to Israeli authorities, the man stabbed the aircraft commander and tried to crash the plane with all the passengers on board.

"I want to present his act of heroism to the advisory committee for the Presidential Citizen Heroism Award and will recommend that it be awarded," Herzog said in a statement. The decoration was created after the attacks by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

The president said the four passengers put themselves at risk to "save other people" and avoid "a terrible disaster." According to Herzog, they demonstrated "initiative, courage and collective responsibility in a time of extreme danger."

Three of them, Yaniv Hayoun, Zvika Manes and Asaf Rajuan, overpowered one of the pilots in the cockpit. According to Israeli authorities, he had stabbed the commander and tried to take control of the aircraft.

The fourth passenger, doctor Shota Musayev, attended to the injured pilot and helped keep him alive until landing. Wednesday's episode (30) forced the Flydubai plane to divert to Saudi Arabia.

According to information from Indian newspapers, the pilot, despite being seriously injured, fought with the attacker and managed to open the cabin door, allowing crew members to intercede.

The circumstances and motivations of the episode are still being investigated. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the man was being investigated in Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed at Tabuk airport, and that he would likely be flown to the United Arab Emirates.

"We will follow and possibly also participate in this investigation," Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. Asked if there was any indication of Iranian involvement, the prime minister said it was too early to say.

"We're going to get to the root of this — find out who this attacker is, whether he had accomplices, whether Iran was behind this. I think we'll find out very soon," he said. The prime minister stated that the man "went through radical Islamic indoctrination", without giving further details, but that it is not yet possible to draw "definitive conclusions"

Extremist ministers in the Netanyahu government said on Wednesday that preliminary information from Israel indicated that the co-pilot intended to shoot down the plane, describing him as a terrorist.