Details on Hijacked Passenger Plane

Israel reports that a plane was hijacked en route to Tel Aviv before the threat was neutralized by other passengers. Reportedly, an Omani co-pilot attacked the other pilot, causing the plane to plunge almost 18,000 feet.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post:

A flydubai commercial passenger aircraft flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted to and landed in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday morning after what Israeli officials said was an attempted hijacking by one of the pilots that led to a mid-air altercation.

An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post a “major disaster was narrowly avoided” amid growing fears that one of the pilots attempted to hijack the plane with the intention of crashing it into the ground. Additional flight crew, aided by Israelis on board the flight, managed to subdue the pilot and bring him under control, the official told the Post.

A mass tragedy was miraculously avoided today due to the bravery of passengers on the flight. The incident occurred on a Fly Dubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv with 174 passengers on board, 166 of whom were Israelis.

The plane ended up being diverted and landed after an altercation in the cockpit, which included one of the pilots brutally attacking – and nearly killing at this point – the other pilot with a knife in an attempt to take over the plane, and potentially using that plane as a weapon.

Thankfully, the crew and some of these Israeli citizens on board, as well as others, subdued the attacker. Two off-duty pilots on board took control and landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia.

And all this happened after the plane plummeted over 17,000  feet. Imagine yourself in that scenario and the sheer terror they must have felt.

The media is being very careful about what they’re calling this act, but it seems highly probable this was Islamic terrorism aimed at killing Israelis. We were joined by the head of ACLJ Jerusalem, Jeff Ballabon, who reacted to a narrowly avoided mass tragedy:

The press, as usual, [is] refraining from saying what’s obvious for as long as they can refrain from saying what’s obvious, but there are numerous reports that the co-pilot is Omani and that he was yelling Allahu Akbar, which tends to tip the hand as to what the intentions are of this attack. The concerns were that not only could they have taken these citizens or these Israelis and other passengers on the plane hostage, but they could have used it to do a 9/11 style attack by crashing the plane into some site in Israel.

There are many things that could have happened that, thank God, were averted. And across Israel, from the upper echelons, politically and militarily, to the people in the street, the reaction is one of gratitude, the belief that this is a genuine miracle, and pride that the Israeli passengers really were able to breach the cockpit door and overwhelm the attacker. . . .

My understanding is there were also maybe some Russian and Ukrainian passengers who were helpful in terms of landing the flight. And so, thank God, this has a relatively happy ending, and a terrible crisis averted, but it was obviously terrifying for the long minutes that the passengers had to endure this. And it should be a wake-up call.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more discussion about this terrifying hijacking of Israeli citizens in the air, and the likely motivations of the attacker. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and offer updates as more information becomes available.

Watch the full broadcast below: