Israel flight hijacking latest: UAE calls attack terrorism after Netanyahu says ‘whoever sent him will pay heavy price’

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A senior UAE official has called the attempted hijacking of the FlyDubai flight to Israel an “act of terrorism”.

Anwar Gargash, an adviser to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, also praised the Indian pilot who was stabbed, saying he “embodied the meaning of courage”.

He wrote on X: “The Indian pilot at "Flydubai," Smit Mathur, deserves every bit of appreciation, for he embodied the meaning of courage and responsibility in the face of a dangerous terrorist act and a potential disaster.”

It comes as Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel was looking into whether the co-pilot had acted under ‌anyone's direction, ⁠warning in a video statement released by his office that whoever was involved would pay a "heavy price".

Most of the passengers on board were Israeli nationals.

New footage shows chaotic scenes aboard a FlyDubai flight to Israel as passengers wrestled a man who attacked his co-pilot with an axe.

Terrified people on the flight are seen speaking in a mixture of Hebrew and English as they call for a doctor and a pilot. Others shout “take him out” and “he tried to crash the plane” in the video shared by Israel’s Channel 12 news.

The airline captain who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a FlyDubai flight told how he fought for his life in the minutes after his co-pilot stabbed him and the plane began a potentially deadly descent.

Capt. Smit Machchhar, from India, is now recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital.

He told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video call broadcast live on television news channels that he knew he had to get back on his feet to save the passengers aboard the aircraft.

“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” he said from the hospital, his head bandaged and tubes in his nose, before breaking down as he recalled the attack.

The Indian airline captain who was stabbed while foiling an alleged attempt by his co-pilot to crash a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv has recalled the moment he managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker.

In a video call to the Indian prime minister while recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, Capt. Smit Machchhar said he knew he had to get back up to save the passengers aboard the aircraft.

"When I was on the ground, I realised that the aircraft is going down. And I told myself, 'This is the last push, Smit. The door is right there.' I was still getting hit, but I opened the door,” Mr Machchhar said.

Passenger Adam Polo, who was on the FlyDubai plane with his family told CNN the sudden descent felt “like a normal air pocket”.

But soon “the electricity, all of the multimedia system and the air conditioning in the airplane stopped working”, he said.

“People that were standing in the aisle or just going to the toilet, they fell, anyone that wasn’t sitting fell. So it was like the craziest roller coaster that you ever did, but multiplied by a thousand,” he told the news outlet.

The Flydubai flight FZ1073 incident has heightened security fears in Israel weeks before Israelis vote in the first election since the Hamas-led October 7 attack, with security a defining issue.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday named the pilot who was attacked as Captain Smit Machchhar, and praised him as a "true hero" for fighting back against the attacker and opening the cockpit door.

Flight FZ1073 took off from Dubai International Airport shortly after 3am UTC on Wednesday morning and was heading for Israel when it signalled an emergency code two hours into its journey, according to tracking website FlightRadar24.

The FlyDubai co-pilot who stabbed a plane's captain in an apparent attempt to crash a flight with 182 people on board was barred from flying in his native Oman over security concerns, according to reports.

Though the pilot – an Omani national – was banned by his country, he was still hired by FlyDubai, according to the Wall Street Journal.

However, the nature of his radicalisation has not been shared.

Flydubai has suspended flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv while authorities investigate the cockpit attack.

The suspension has left passengers stranded and Israeli airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia are planning rescue flights from Dubai to bring travellers back on Friday.

Israel’s transportation ministry has also made an urgent request to Etihad Airways to increase flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv.

Israel has some of the world’s most stringent air travel security measures. The United Arab Emirates proudly adheres to international aviation safety standards. Yet those safeguards failed to prevent a flight between the countries from taking a dangerous plunge during an alleged attack in the cockpit.

The copilot allegedly stabbed the captain in the cockpit before passengers intervened aboard FlyDubai Flight FZ1073 after taking off from Dubai, UAE, with 174 people flying to Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday.

The airplane made a safe emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and the incident is under investigation by Saudi, Emirati and Israeli authorities, with the United States and Oman assisting efforts to determine a motive.

A six-year-old girl played a crucial role in preventing a major disaster when a co-pilot attacked a flight captain on board a FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

Nina Manes happened to ask her mother Tali to take her to the lavatory on board the flight just as the man, who is an Omani national but has not been named, attacked Indian Cpt Smit Machchhar by stabbing him repeatedly.

Her mother raised the alarm after she heard shouting coming from the cockpit prompting cabin crew to rush to the scene.

The motives for an alleged hijacker to try and plunge a plane bound for Israel are vivid - and they are opaque.

But whether the attempt on Flight FZ1073 was in revenge for the thousands killed by Israel’s forces in Gaza or the consequences of a psychotic breakdown, only one person benefits. Benjamin Netanyahu.

The alleged hijacking of an Israel-bound flight has raised questions over how secure the vetting process is for one of aviation’s most skilled jobs.

Flydubai FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv rapidly descended during a terrifying ordeal as the co-pilot allegedly tried to take control of the plane after attacking his fellow pilot with an axe, or possibly stabbing him.

It is still unclear why the co-pilot to acted in this way. Yet the question remains: how was this person able to bypass rigorous background checks and be given the responsibility of flying planes?