Netanyahu praises stabbed Indian pilot for saving lives on Flydubai flight

The Israeli prime minister thanks Captain Smit Machchhar for ‘extraordinary bravery’.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked an Indian pilot, who was stabbed by a co-pilot, for saving 174 people on board the Flydubai Dubai-Tel Aviv flight that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

“My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery,” Netanyahu wrote on his official X account on Wednesday evening.

He said that despite being stabbed and seriously injured, Machchhar “fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker – preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster”.

“He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” Netanyahu said, adding that he wished the pilot “a speedy and full recovery”.

“He is a true hero,” Netanyahu said.

The co-pilot of the flight, who is accused of stabbing Machchhar in an alleged attempt to take control of the aircraft, remains unidentified, but Netanyahu said he was arrested after the plane landed in Saudi Arabia.

India’s embassy in Riyadh said “the brave Indian pilot of Flydubai” Smit Machchhar was, “admitted in a hospital in Tabuk city in northwest Saudi Arabia and receiving necessary medical attention”, in a post on X.

The embassy said it was awaiting a full update on the pilot’s health but that “he is reported to be in stable condition”.

Emergency alert

Flydubai flight FZ1073 transmitted an emergency alert shortly after takeoff from Dubai on Wednesday morning, making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport with all passengers safe and accounted for, according to the airline.

Flight-tracking data from the Flightradar24 website indicated the flight was a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.

A rescue flight – operated by Flydubai – flew all passengers from Tabuk to their final destination, Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport at 15:34 GMT.

They were received at the airport by Netanyahu, in a display the Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called “cheap politics”,  in the run-up to this month’s elections.