Too early to say what motive for Dubai-Tel Aviv flight attack was, Israeli PM says

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it is too early to say what was behind the foiled attempt by a co-pilot to crash an Emirati flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

There is no suggestion yet from authorities of a motive for the attacking pilot, but asked by Fox News whether there was any indication of Iran’s involvement, Netanyahu replied: “It’s too early to say.”

He said the attacker was being investigated in Saudi Arabia, where he was arrested after the Flydubai plane made an emergency landing.

Shaken passengers described how they burst into the cockpit and wrestled with the attacker as the aircraft descended sharply.

Netanyahu added that he expected the attacker would be taken to the United Arab Emirates, where the plane took off. “We’ll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation,” Netanyahu added.

He told CNN that Israel did not have any warning or advance intelligence about the incident on the plane, which was flying 174 people to Israel.

The pilot was arrested after he stabbed the other pilot on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv and “apparently tried to crash the plane”, according to Netanyahu.

Passengers and crew overpowered the attacker and retook control of the Flydubai aircraft, landing it safely at an airport in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia.

The passengers, who were almost all Israeli, arrived later on Wednesday in Tel Aviv on a repatriation flight.

The stabbed pilot, named as Indian national Captain Smit Machchhar, has been taken to hospital but is reported to be in a stable condition. Netanyahu and India’s leader Narendra Modi praised him as a “hero”.

“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” Netanyahu wrote on X.

The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar was in a stable condition in hospital.

Modi praised the pilot’s actions, writing on X: “In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others.

“India is proud of Captain Machchhar.”