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A passenger on board the flight
A passenger on board the flight

Chaos on Dubai-Israel flight as suspected terror attack foiled

A FlyDubai plane broadcast a highjack signal, with interviews from passengers suggesting that they had subdued a member of the flight crew who tried to crash the aircraft

A passenger on board the flight
Chaos on Dubai-Israel flight as suspected terror attack foiled
A FlyDubai plane broadcast a highjack signal, with interviews from passengers suggesting that they had subdued a member of the flight crew who tried to crash the aircraft
By JN Reporter September 30, 2026, 11:21 am Edit
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A flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was diverted to land in Saudi Arabia this morning after a fight between the two pilots led to one stabbing the other and a hijacking signal being broadcast from the plane.

A FlyDubai aircraft travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv began broadcasting a general emergency code two hours into the journey, then briefly sent a hijacking signal before returning to broadcast a general emergency signal.

A flight between the pilot and co-pilot led to the pilot being stabbed, with some of the passengers helping to subdue the knifeman. Video footage of some of the passengers appears to show blood, with those on the flight describing having subdued “the terrorist”.

There have also been reports of the aircraft having plunged thousands of feet before stabilising. More than 100 Israeli passengers were on board the flight, which was diverted to the Saudi city of Tabuk.

Speaking to Israel’s Channel 12 news, a passenger on the board, identified as Meital, said that her husband and other Israelis helped to “neutralise the terrorist”, who was “trying to crash the plane”. She described “stabbings and a lot of blood.” A video of another passenger shows a reference to a member of the flight crew having been “tied up”.

Another passenger identified as Daniel told Channel 12: “Suddenly I heard a struggle. Something like a fight coming from the cockpit,” he says, on the phone from Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Airport, where the flight eventually landed. “The door was slightly ajar and I saw an attempt to push someone out. Then three Israelis who were sitting behind me came to see what was happening, and the plane suddenly went into a very steep dive, nose down, with a very intense spin.

“From what I understood, a copilot stabbed the captain, and once they subdued the attacker, there were two other pilots on the plane and they took control,” he says. There have been reports off two off-duty pilots taking the reins after the captain had been incapacitated.

“The spinning stopped. It took some. I don’t know, it felt like an eternity, but I think it was two minutes, at least two or three minutes, during which the plane was simply diving and spinning like crazy,” Daniel recounts. “It felt like, that’s it. It’s over. September 11 is happening again.”

Daniel says he “definitely” thought it was a terrorist attack. “I heard the screams during the struggle and saw the blood on the floor from the pilot, who was brought out.”

“Those three Israeli guys are real heroes. It’s hard to explain just how heroic they were,” he says.

But Daniel says it was not clear at all that the danger had passed.

“The focus was on neutralising the guy, the attacker. I looked outside and saw desert, I couldn’t see anything. I realized Iran was close. Thoughts went through my head that they were hijacking the plane to Iran,” he said.

Daniel says the two other pilots who took control initially did not communicate with the passengers, as they were apparently focused on securing the plane. “The pilots locked themselves in the cockpit, and we had no contact with the pilots. There were also two flight attendants who were completely helpless. They were hysterical, they didn’t really know how to handle the situation.”

He says, “All kinds of thoughts were running through our heads, but the moment we heard the pilot start speaking to the passengers and telling them that they were going to land,” he calmed down.

Initial reports suggesting an altercation between a Russian and a Ukrainian member of the flight crew appear to have been unfounded, with Israeli reports suggesting that the alleged assailant was of Omani origin.

Israeli scrambled fighter jets in response to the attack. It is understood that the country’s intelligence agencies are currently leaning towards designating this as a terrorist attack.

FlyDubai is understood to be sending out another aircraft from the UAE to enable the first flight’s passengers to finish their journey.

This is a developing story.

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