Pilot stabs colleague on Israel-bound Flydubai flight; plane diverted to Saudi Arabia
September 30, 2026 at 08:34 PM · Updated 15d ago
Coverage
9 reports · 6 in Arabic, 3 in English · over 15 hours
Netanyahu says too early to tell who was behind plane incident as flydubai halts all flights to Israel
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نتنياهو: إسرائيل ستصل إلى جذور ما حدث في واقعة طائرة فلاي دبي
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وزيرا خارجية الإمارات وإسرائيل يبحثان هاتفياً العلاقات الثنائية - اليوم السابع
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سفارة الهند بالسعودية تكشف تفاصيل الحالة الصحية لقائد طائرة فلاي دبي ا | مصراوي
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ترامب: نتنياهو أبلغني أن سباكًا إسرائيليًا ساعد في إنقاذ طائرة "فلاي دبي"
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بعد أزمة "فلاي دبي".. رسالة من السعودية إلى إسرائيل: "لا يُمكنكم فرض التطبيع"
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Watch: 'Shaken and emotional' passengers arrive in Israel after Flydubai incident
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Watch: Passengers describe stabbing on Israel-bound plane
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نتنياهو: السعودية تستجوب الطيار المتسبب في حادثة "فلاي دبي" | مصراوي
(opens the publisher’s site)A stabbing forced a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
- Flydubai flight FZ1073 sent a distress signal and landed at Tabuk's Prince Sultan airport at 9:45am, with both pilots taken to hospital.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one pilot stabbed another and "apparently tried to crash the plane."
- Netanyahu said Saudi authorities arrested the stabbing pilot, now being questioned, and that another pilot aboard regained control.
- Netanyahu added that all passengers are safe, and passengers have since arrived at Ben Gurion Airport.
- Saudi Arabia refused an Israeli request to send a rescue flight or military aircraft to Tabuk, telling Israel normalization cannot be imposed, i24NEWS reported.
- Trump said Netanyahu told him an Israeli plumber helped save the plane from crashing.
- Trump relayed the account in comments carried by Reuters on Thursday.
- UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed called Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Wednesday to check on the safety of the flight's passengers.
- India's embassy in Riyadh identified the pilot as Captain Sameet Machhar and said he is in stable condition.
- flydubai confirmed the crew secured the aircraft and landed it safely, saying the motive remains under investigation.
- Netanyahu said Thursday it is too early to determine the motive, Israel will join the investigation, and it is not yet known who was behind it.
- flydubai suspended all flights to and from Israel pending an investigation into the incident.