Netanyahu exploits Flydubai incident as Israel pushes 'terror' narrative despite conflicting accounts

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has seized on the Flydubai incident ahead of Israel's general election, comparing it to the 11 September attacks and suggesting Iran could be involved, even though investigators have yet to establish whether it was an act of terrorism.

The Israeli leader's remarks follow Wednesday's emergency landing of a Flydubai aircraft carrying 174 passengers, most of them Israelis, in Saudi Arabia after a violent confrontation between its two pilots.

While Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz quickly described the incident as a "terrorist" attack, the circumstances remain unclear, with conflicting accounts emerging from Israeli media and investigations still under way in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The incident has given Netanyahu an opportunity to promote his security message ahead of the 27 October election, with opposition leader Yair Lapid accusing him of exploiting the passengers' ordeal for political gain.

Netanyahu invokes 9/11 and raises Iran claims

In interviews with CNN and Fox News late on Wednesday, Netanyahu compared the incident to the 11 September attacks in the United States, claiming that the aircraft's Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, and Israeli passengers had prevented a catastrophe on a similar scale.

He claimed that the co-pilot, identified as an Omani national, had intended to crash the aircraft and kill everyone on board, although investigators have yet to establish his motive.

"What distinguishes this incident from the other tragic attacks is that this time the good guys won," Netanyahu told Fox News.

He also told CNN that he had spoken to US President Donald Trump about the incident and its potential implications for global aviation. Trump separately confirmed that the two had discussed the emergency at length.

Netanyahu went on to suggest that Iran could have been involved, despite acknowledging that Israel had received no specific intelligence warning about the flight and that investigators had found no evidence linking Tehran to the incident.

"We'll get to the bottom of this attacker, and we'll find out whether he had accomplices and whether Iran was behind him," Netanyahu said. "I think we'll discover that very soon. It's too early to say."

Katz also described the incident as a "jihadist attack", claiming that preliminary information indicated the co-pilot had intended to kill everyone on board.

Both men linked the incident to security warnings they had issued the previous day, prompting criticism that they were using the emergency to justify their earlier statements.

Netanyahu also turned the passengers' return into a public appearance, welcoming them at Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday evening and meeting Yaniv Hayoun, one of the Israelis who reportedly helped restrain the co-pilot.

"You are a hero. You deserve a global medal of honor," Netanyahu told Hayoun.

In his interview with Fox News, Netanyahu also praised Hayoun's actions, telling viewers: "If your plane is hijacked next time, make sure you have an Israeli sitting next to you."

What happened aboard the Flydubai flight?

Flydubai flight FZ1073 departed Dubai for Tel Aviv at 6:05am local time on Wednesday, carrying 174 passengers, including 30 under the age of 18.

Around two and a half hours into the journey, while flying through Jordanian airspace, the aircraft plunged more than 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.

The crew transmitted a general emergency signal, followed by an alert indicating unlawful interference or a possible hijacking. Israeli fighter jets were dispatched after air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft.

According to Israeli officials, the Omani co-pilot stabbed Machchhar and attempted to crash the aircraft. Despite his injuries, the captain reportedly managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to intervene and restrain the co-pilot.

Two off-duty Flydubai pilots travelling on board then took control of the aircraft and landed it safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia.

Footage filmed inside the aircraft appeared to show the injured captain lying on the cabin floor. Passengers described scenes of panic, with one telling Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS that the cockpit was covered in blood and that those on board feared they would die.

Both pilots were taken to hospital in Saudi Arabia, and India's embassy later confirmed that Machchhar was receiving treatment and was in a stable condition.

The passengers spent several hours at Tabuk Airport before returning to Israel on Wednesday evening.

Images and footage showed Saudi medical teams treating Israeli passengers, an unusual sight given the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The footage could also become part of Israel's wider push for normalisation with Saudi Arabia, which has resisted establishing diplomatic ties without the creation of a Palestinian state.

Conflicting accounts 

Despite Netanyahu's repeated descriptions of the incident as "terrorism", the circumstances and motives behind it remain unclear.

Early Israeli media reports suggested that the co-pilot may have attempted suicide or that a personal dispute had broken out in the cockpit.

Israel's Channel 12 reported on Thursday that the Saudi investigation had found no indication of terrorism at that stage.

Israeli army radio said Israel was not directly questioning the suspect, who remained in Saudi custody, but was seeking information from the investigation.

The UAE's Attorney General, Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, ordered a separate investigation on Thursday to establish what happened, including whether the incident involved terrorism, prior planning or outside involvement.

Netanyahu also spoke to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan following the incident and claimed that the two had agreed Israel would participate in questioning the suspect.

The conversation came just days after Netanyahu's visited Abu Dhabi amid Israeli media reports that he had sought to persuade Mohammed bin Zayed to publicly deny claims that he had warned Netanyahu of an impending Hamas attack before 7 October 2023.

According to those reports, Netanyahu's office had pressed for the meeting as the Israeli leader faced renewed scrutiny over the intelligence and security failures preceding the attacks, an issue that could damage his electoral prospects.

Netanyahu turning incident into 'election propaganda'

Netanyahu's attempts to link the Flydubai incident to his earlier security warnings have drawn criticism from Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who accused the prime minister and his allies of turning the emergency into election propaganda.

Lapid, who received a security briefing from Netanyahu on Tuesday, said the prime minister had made no mention of any threat resembling the Flydubai incident.

"Nothing even remotely resembling the plane incident came up in the security briefing," Lapid said.

He said Netanyahu was trying to take political credit for the actions of the passengers and crew, despite having had no advance warning of the emergency.

"The Prime Minister's Office has become such a deranged and out-of-touch place that it is trying to exploit the aircraft incident for political gain, blame the opposition for what happened and claim that Netanyahu deserves the credit for preventing it," Lapid wrote on X.

Flydubai warns against speculation

Flydubai has maintained that the emergency landing followed an altercation in the cockpit, without attributing a motive to either pilot.

"The situation was successfully brought under control by the Flydubai crew on board the flight, who diverted the aircraft and landed safely at Tabuk Airport," the airline said in a statement.

It confirmed that all passengers and crew were safe and that replacement aircraft had been dispatched to Saudi Arabia.

"At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation," Flydubai added. "We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts."