President Donald Trump confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “at length” after a FlyDubai flight nearly crashed in what’s presumably being described as an act of terrorism by a rogue co-pilot.
The president said the suspect was “perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack-job.”
President Trump speaks on the attempted FlyDubai hijacking and his discussion with Israeli PM Netanyahu pic.twitter.com/NB5iKZBR3g
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 30, 2026
The flight was headed to Tel Aviv, Israel, from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and then safely landed in Saudi Arabia after one pilot stabbed the second pilot. The passengers are now back in Israel.
“The grave incident on the flydubai plane was a jihadist terrorist attack attempt, which was thwarted only thanks to the bravery of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist and, with their own hands, restored control of the plane to another flight crew who was present there,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday.
Netanyahu also met with a blood-soaked passenger who was able to successfully enter the cockpit during the incident.
“I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers. He told me that the plane went into a spin and began to dive,” the prime minister said in a statement.
“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. Another flight crew on board entered the cockpit and managed to stabilize the plane,” he continued.
יניב, אתה גיבור אמיתי. אנחנו עם של אריות! pic.twitter.com/55AgmAvzIG
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 30, 2026
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