Home · World · Oct 1 archive
Netanyahu Says Too Early to Determine Iran's Role in Flydubai Attack
Confirmed
In Short: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it is too early to determine if Iran was involved in the attack on a Flydubai flight bound for Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it is too early to determine if Iran was involved in the attack on a Flydubai flight bound for Israel, according to multiple reports.
The incident occurred on Wednesday when a copilot attacked the pilot-in-command aboard flight FZ1073, which was carrying 174 passengers from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu told Fox News, 'It's too early to say' whether Iran had any involvement in the attack, while confirming that Israel has been invited to participate in the investigation.
The Israeli prime minister spoke with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who agreed that Israel should join the investigation.
According to Netanyahu, the pilot was stabbed and seriously injured but managed to fight back, open the cockpit door, and enable passengers and crew to overpower the attacker.
A paramedic from Israel's ambulance service reported that some passengers were very emotional and crying as they disembarked from the plane.
The Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, called the incident an 'attempted jihadi terrorist attack,' though he did not provide details.
Flydubai said in a statement that an altercation occurred in the flight deck and the flight was 'successfully secured by on-duty flydubai crew traveling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk airport.
The airline has temporarily suspended all flights to and from Israel following the incident.
In a weekly television poll published by Channel 13 news, Netanyahu's right-wing bloc is regaining the lead over his rivals before the upcoming elections, though still short of a Knesset majority.
What this adds
The poll shows Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party as the largest with 21 seats, followed by Netanyahu’s Likud with 19.
What's confirmed
- 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.
- "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.
- Passengers arrived in Tel Aviv after their original flight was forced to land in Saudi Arabia US President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Netanyahu following the incident, saying it seemed as though the attacker was "perhaps a terrorist" or there were other reasons behind the attack.
- Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has also called it an "attempted jihadist terror attack", without giving any details.
- However, in the hours after the plane touched down in Tabuk, eyewitness accounts and a statement by Netanyahu confirmed one of the pilots had stabbed the other and, according to the Israeli prime minister, "apparently tried to crash" the aircraft.
- In an address on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu called the situation "a very serious security incident" and said Israeli security forces were "maintaining close contact with the relevant authorities to ensure the continued safety of the passengers".
- 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.
What's still developing
- The survey still showed former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party as the largest with 21 seats, down one from last week, followed by Netanyahu’s Likud with 19, B’Yachad with 11, Democrats with 11, Yisrael Beytenu with nine, Joint List with nine, Otzma Yehudit with eight, United Torah Judaism with eight, Shas with seven, Religious Zionism-Zehut with seven, Ra’am with five and People of Israel with five.
- Together, parties that support Netanyahu as prime minister would have 54 seats if the elections were held today, versus 52 for the opposition Zionist bloc and 14 for Arab-majority factions aligned with neither of the sides.
- “That’s what it looks like was happening as far as the specific motivations of this,” Netanyahu tells the US cable network.
- It’s not immediately clear if Netanyahu is suggesting that the copilot’s goal was to fly the plane into a building after attacking the pilot.
- A 40-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of plotting to attack the Texas Capitol, authorities say.
- The Texas Department of Public Safety says in a statement that it received “credible information about an individual planning a violent attack” for Thursday in Austin.
- One passenger, Yaniv Hayun, met Netanyahu and told him how he and others on the flight had restrained the attacker.
- 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.
- Netanyahu and India's leader Narendra Modi praised him as a "hero".
- In an interview with American news agency Fox News, when asked about Iran's involvement in the incident, he replied, 'It is too early to say.' According to Netanyahu, the attacking pilot was apprehended after the plane made an emergency landing in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia.
- Netanyahu also stated that he is expected to be taken to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the country from which the plane departed. 'We are closely monitoring this investigation and will likely participate in it,' he said.