Israel: 'Major Disaster' Avoided in Suspected Attempted Hijacking

An Israeli official said a "major disaster was narrowly avoided" after a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted to Saudi Arabia Wednesday amid what Israeli officials described as an attempted hijacking by one of the pilots.

The aircraft, flight FZ1073, landed safely at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Airport in Tabuk, reports The Jerusalem Post. 

The unnamed Israeli official said that investigators believe one pilot tried to hijack the aircraft, though it remained unclear whether he intended to crash it, fly it to Israel or carry out an attack similar to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. 

Israel’s security establishment, including the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet, increasingly believes the incident was an attempted terrorist attack, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Unconfirmed reports said the copilot, reportedly an Omani national who had worked for the airline for about a year, stabbed the captain and tried to crash the plane before passengers subdued him.

 

Israeli sources told the Post that initial investigations suggested the suspected attacker was Omani, but his identity had not been confirmed.

Flydubai said all passengers were safe and accounted for, and that it was working with authorities. The airline planned to send another aircraft to Saudi Arabia to bring the passengers to Tel Aviv.

Images appear to show damage to the aircraft's rear rudder, with part of it missing from the vertical stabilizer. The Boeing 737 MAX plunged from about 34,000 feet to around 17,000 feet in less than a minute during the incident.

Arik Zer, a former Shin Bet head of flight security, told Israel's Channel 12 that the rapid descent likely caused the damage and that it was unlikely to have been caused by an object striking the plane.

Israeli security officials, including the Israel Defense Forces, Mossad and Shin Bet, increasingly viewed the incident as a possible act of terrorism, the Post reported. There was no evidence the suspected hijacker had backing from a foreign government or organization.

Video from the plane moments after the alleged attack shows the captain covered in blood on the floor outside the cockpit as passengers tend to him, The Times of Israel reported. A second crew member appears tied up beside him and seemingly unconscious.

 

In another video recorded shortly after the fight, a passenger with blood on his face describes a hijacking and asks for help.

"We're here during the hijacking of an airplane. At this point we've subdued the terrorists, we're approaching landing. Whoever is hearing me, we need help," he says.

"We're landing in Tabuk, apparently in Saudi Arabia. An unknown, unfamiliar area. On the plane, everybody is safe and sound, other than the pilot. We need help."

A passenger identified as Meital told Channel 12 that her husband helped subdue the attacker. She said a crew member in the cockpit "tried to crash the plane."

"Someone shouted 'stabbing' and my husband immediately understood what was happening and rushed to the front of the plane, and along with other Israelis they neutralized the terrorist," she said. "There were stabbings and a lot of blood."

"We're very emotional and under terrible stress, it's very difficult for me to talk," she added.

The Times of Israel also reported that passengers in a video from the plane are heard saying, "You saved the plane. It's good for you." One passenger tells the person recording, "We were attacked and were guarding the pilot."

"They tried to murder the pilot. We subdued [the attacker]," another passenger says. Someone points to a bound man and says, "This is the man who... stabbed him." In a separate video to his family, another passenger describes a "terrorist" who tried to take over the plane and says he helped subdue the attacker, who was tied up.

A passenger separately told the Post that one pilot stabbed another and tried to force him out of the cockpit as the plane began to descend. Passengers seated near the front rushed to the cockpit and fought the attacker, the passenger said. The group removed him from the cockpit and helped two other pilots take control of the plane.

The passenger said an Israeli dentist treated the stabbed pilot, whom the passenger described as being in critical condition. A statement from Tabuk airport confirmed that the pilot and first officer were wounded and taken to a hospital, but did not explain how they were injured.

During the incident, the aircraft broadcast squawk code 7700, which indicates a general emergency, before switching to code 7500, used to signal unlawful interference, and later returning to 7700.

Israel's air force scrambled fighter jets and raised its alert level as the situation unfolded, Walla reported. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security meeting with defense officials, and Israeli airspace was temporarily closed before reopening after the plane landed in Saudi Arabia.

"The incident is under control, and all measures are currently being deployed in order to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel," the Prime Minister's Office said.

Authorities were investigating the identity and background of the pilot suspected of carrying out the attack.

The incident led IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to cancel a planned trip to the United States, where he was scheduled to meet with Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, the Post reported.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Zamir also considered sending Israeli military or civilian aircraft to bring the passengers home, Walla reported.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for Israel to "address the intent and not the results" in a statement after the incident.

"Whoever tried to crash a plane and murder 180 Israelis must pay as if he murdered. He and every state or terrorist organization that sent him," Smotrich wrote.

Sandy Fitzgerald ✉

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

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