🇮🇱🇦🇪 Israel believes the Flydubai co-pilot attempted a "9/11-style" attack

A senior Israeli official told Channel 12 that the co-pilot stabbed the captain and tried to either hijack the plane or crash it into a target, rather than simply bring it down.

Netanyahu said the co-pilot tried to crash the plane after stabbing the pilot, before passengers held him down and other pilots landed it safely in Saudi Arabia. He called it "a highly severe security incident" and said Saudi authorities would interrogate the co-pilot. Only hours earlier, his office had said the incident was not a hijacking.

Israeli officials told Reuters their current assessment is that it was an attempted terror attack, not linked to any mental health issue with either pilot.

Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir called the pilot a "terrorist" who planned to crash the aircraft and kill the Israelis on board.

Israeli officials say the attacker is an Omani national. Israel is now examining how he was cleared to fly to Israel, as pilots on these routes must hold passports from countries with diplomatic relations with Israel. Oman has none.

Russian and Ukrainian pilots flying as passengers reportedly helped land the plane.

🐻 Dunno about you, but this whole story smells of an Israeli pre-election stunt.

🔴 @DDGeopolitics