Yehuda Kaploun, a rabbi and U.S. State Department special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, thanked Saudi Arabia for its “quick response” in helping passengers, including Israelis, on a flydubai flight that was diverted to the kingdom.
“This is what President Trump’s work is accomplishing: countries working together to benefit and protect one another,” Kaploun told JNS. “We witnessed miracles according to everyone involved.”
Reports varied on what happened aboard the flight, bound for Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, according to an English translation provided by his office, that there was a “serious security incident on a flight from Dubai to Israel.”
“Almost all the passengers on the flight were Israelis. During the flight, as they approached the country, one of the pilots stabbed the second pilot, and apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board,” the prime minister said.
Netanyahu said that one of the Israeli passengers told him that the “plane went into a spin and began to dive.”
“He told me that, somehow or other, he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members and that together they neutralized the stabbing pilot while he was trying to sabotage the plane’s systems,” Netanyahu said. “Another flight crew on board entered the cockpit and managed to stabilize the plane.”
The “heroes” showed “exceptional resourcefulness and courage,” saved “many lives” and “prevented a huge disaster,” the Israeli premier said.
Ofir Akunis, Israeli consul general in New York, stated that “what happened today was a Sukkot miracle.”
“A major terror attack against the State of Israel and the Jewish people was averted today thanks to the courage and quick thinking of Israeli passengers on the flight,” the envoy said. “The attack could have been similar to Sept. 11. Thank God it was not.”
“The aim of the attack was to murder hundreds of Jews and Israelis, damage relations with the United Arab Emirates and put a damper on the Abraham Accords,” Akunis stated. “But I can assure you that none of those objectives will succeed.”
Israel “deeply values” its relationship with the United Arab Emirates and “will not allow those who seek to destroy peace to change that,” according to Akunis.
“The State of Israel is constantly targeted by terrorists, and the horror we witnessed today only emphasizes Israel’s need to stand up to terror, as we have been doing with increasing intensity in recent years,” he stated. “I hope Israel’s critics learn from today’s unprecedented attack and finally recognize why the Jewish State must defend itself.”
The passengers reportedly landed in Israel on Wednesday on another plane.
