U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both pointed to terrorism as the likely motive behind Wednesday’s cockpit stabbing aboard a Flydubai flight bound for Israel, as the 174 rescued passengers were welcomed home at Ben Gurion Airport with applause and emotional reunions.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he had discussed the incident at length with Netanyahu and that it appeared the co-pilot was “perhaps a terrorist,” while also allowing that investigators had not yet reached a final conclusion. He called the actions of the passengers who helped subdue the attacker “the most amazing stuff,” saying he had told Netanyahu as much directly.
Netanyahu said the co-pilot stabbed the flight’s captain as the aircraft approached Israeli airspace and appeared to be attempting to crash the plane with everyone aboard, and said he had ordered Israel’s security establishment to prepare for any further threats. Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz went further, calling the episode an attempted jihadist terror attack, a characterization Israel’s Foreign Ministry repeated in a briefing to its ambassadors worldwide, describing it as a strike against Israelis, the United Arab Emirates and the Abraham Accords. A senior U.S. official told reporters the early findings of the investigation increasingly pointed toward an act of terrorism, though Israeli officials cautioned that the attacker’s exact motive, and whether he acted alone, was still being established by Saudi investigators questioning him in Tabuk.
Netanyahu singled out the flight’s captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar, for praise, saying that despite being stabbed and seriously wounded, he fought back, opened the cockpit door and allowed passengers and crew to overpower the attacker, calling him a true hero and wishing him a full recovery. Netanyahu also met personally with passengers who helped restrain the attacker, embracing one who arrived still wearing blood-stained clothing, and thanked them for what he described as preventing a disaster.
Passengers who landed safely in Israel on a replacement flight described scenes of panic as the aircraft shook and dropped before being brought under control, followed by singing and chanting as they disembarked at Ben Gurion Airport. Flydubai has suspended flights to Israel pending the outcome of the investigation, and Israeli officials said pilot vetting procedures for flights into the country would be strengthened in response to the incident.
