Passengers from the attempted flydubai hijacking land back in Israel
By TOMER ALMAGOR
(JTA) — TEL AVIV – One pilot stabbed another in the cockpit of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv in what may have been an attempt to crash the plane, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday. Passenger intervention helped restrain the attacker, he added.
A flydubai 737 Max 8 similar to the one used in today’s attempted hijacking. (Photo by By Anna Zvereva via Wikipedia)
The flight, carrying more than 100 Israeli travelers, was diverted while flying over Jordanian airspace and made an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, an Israeli official told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The passengers have since arrived in Israel.
“During the flight, as they were approaching Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and apparently attempted to crash the plane with its passengers on board,” Netanyahu said in an official video statement.
He said he had spoken with one of the passengers, who had told him that he had managed to enter the cockpit with a member of the cabin crew. Together, they were able to restrain the pilot who had allegedly carried out the stabbing and was attempting to interfere with the aircraft’s systems, Netanyahu said.
He added that another crew member entered the cockpit and managed to land the plane. “I salute these heroes, who saved many lives and prevented a major disaster.”
Netanyahu called the incident a “serious security event” and said that nearly all of the passengers on board were Israelis.
Defense Minister Israel Katz described the incident as a “jihadist terror attack.”
“According to the initial information in our possession, the terrorist had one intention: to crash the plane with all its passengers on board,” Katz said. He credited the passengers with subduing the attacker and allowing another crew member to regain control of the aircraft.
Saudi authorities said the two pilots were taken to a hospital after sustaining injuries, according to international media reports. Netanyahu said that the pilot accused of carrying out the stabbing was “currently being questioned by the Saudi authorities.”
Data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft descending roughly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds during the incident. Videos recorded during the flight appeared to show chaos in the cabin, with passengers screaming and crying.
The entire incident lasted about an hour and a half, according to accounts from passengers posted on social media and reports by Israeli media.
“We are on the flight from Dubai. We took control of the flight. There was an attacker with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots,” passenger Itzhak Liber said in a Facebook video. “A few of us jumped in and pulled him out of the cockpit. Everything is OK now. The terrorist is neutralized. There is a pilot who is seriously injured.”
“It was tough. Everything is covered in blood,” Liber added.
Another passenger, with blood on his face, appeared in a video posted to social media and said the passengers were in the middle of a hijacking and had restrained the attacker as the plane prepared to land. In another video, several passengers said they were protecting the pilot.
One of the passengers who helped subdue the attacker, Israeli Tzvika Manes, described the incident in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 as “a horror movie” and a “traumatic event.”
Manes said his wife had gone to the bathroom with his young daughter when she heard screaming and sounds of a struggle coming from the cockpit.
“We saw the co-pilot stabbing the captain, and we pulled him out together with two other people who joined us,” Manes said. “We reacted relatively quickly.”
Another pilot then entered the cockpit, Manes said, while a pilot who had been sitting among the passengers also joined them, and they managed to regain control of the aircraft and restrain the attacker using headphones. “It was not easy fighting with him,” he said.
The flight landed in Israel on Wednesday evening. Footage showed passengers cheering and singing “Am Yisrael Chai” (the people of Israel live) as they arrived back home.
Netanyahu traveled to the airport to greet the passengers and met with Yaniv Hayun, who helped disarm the attacker in the cockpit. The prime minister hugged Hayun, who wore a T-shirt stained with the blood of the wounded pilot.
Hayun, who was with his wife and two daughters, sat with Netanyahu and described the incident. The wounded pilot, he explained, had been able to unlock the cockpit door before collapsing, a critical move that allowed him and others to enter.
As the first one in, Hayun said, he saw the attacker trying to disable the plane’s controls to force a crash. Everything happened in seconds as the plane was beginning to dive, he said, pantomiming the descent with his hand.
“I grabbed him, placed him in a chockhold, tossed him” aside and pushed the steering control up, Hayun said. Two others helped subdue the attacker.
By chance, there were two pilots in the main cabin who then entered the cockpit, took control of the plane, stabilized it and landed it in Saudi Arabia.
The first official U.S. reaction came from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who wrote on X that details were still unclear, but that Israeli passengers on board had helped subdue the co-pilot, who “apparently tried to take over the plane.” Huckabee added that the incident “could have been a horrific” one, but that everyone was safe.
Flydubai has acknowledged that there was an “incident” that led to the diversion of the flight. It stressed that the plane landed safely and that all passengers were safe.
UAE officials had not commented on the incident as of publication. Earlier this week, Netanyahu met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.
Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic relations, but the two countries maintain ties.
This is not the first time a flight bound for Israel has made an unscheduled landing in Saudi Arabia. In September 2025, a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv landed in Saudi Arabia after a passenger experienced a medical emergency. In August 2023, a flight from the Seychelles to Israel made an unscheduled landing in Jeddah because of a technical problem. In both cases, the passengers continued on to Israel without further incident.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a post on X that there had been an attempt to “crash” the aircraft and “murder 180 Israelis.” He called for Israel to hold accountable the “state or terrorist organization” responsible for the incident.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir added that a “terrorist” had planned to crash the plane and harm Israelis, saying that “terrorism is a devil with which no agreement should be reached.”
A flydubai spokesperson said that the airline had sent two replacement aircraft to Tabuk to aid the passengers and crew of the diverted flight.
The airline added that the reasons and motives behind the incident remain unknown and are subject to a formal investigation, urging against “premature speculation” while authorities gather the facts. The airline said its immediate priority was the safety and well-being of the passengers and crew involved.
This story has been updated to include comments from Prime Minister Netanyahu and other details throughout. This is a developing story.
