Live Updates: Israelis Celebrate Passengers’ Return as Questions Swirl Over Flight Attack

FlyDubai Flight Live Updates: Investigators Seek Motive for Stabbing Attack - The New York Times

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Cockpit Attack on Flight to Israel

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Tel Aviv4:03 p.m. Oct. 1

LiveUpdated

Oct. 1, 2026, 8:49 a.m. ET15 minutes ago

Live Updates: Investigators Seek Motive in FlyDubai Attack

The United Arab Emirates said it would lead the investigation, including into possible links to terrorism. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination,” though he did not elaborate.

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Image!People walk in an arrival hall, past uniformed individuals, some holding guns. An overhead sign reads "Domestic Arrivals."

*Passengers walk out of the arrivals terminal after landing at Ben Gurion Airport on a FlyDubai replacement flight on Wednesday.Credit...Erik Marmor/Getty Images*

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Latest

Updated

Oct. 1, 2026, 8:49 a.m. ET15 minutes ago

Isabel Kershner

Reporting from Jerusalem

Here’s the latest.

Investigators on Thursday were trying to determine what led the co-pilot on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv to stab the pilot, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing after passengers and crew members bravely rushed the cockpit to avert a midair catastrophe.

The government of the United Arab Emirates said on Thursday that it would take the lead in the investigation into whether the incident on the FlyDubai flight on Wednesday was linked to terrorism.

In an interview with Fox News, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel suggested that the co-pilot, who has not been identified but who Israeli officials have said is an Omani citizen, may have been ideologically motivated. “We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” Mr. Netanyahu said, adding that investigators had learned this from the man’s “personal information.” He did not provide further details.

Mr. Netanyahu had earlier told Fox News that the attacker was being investigated in Saudi Arabia and would likely be transferred to the Emirates. “And we’ll be following, and possibly also participating in this investigation,” he said.

Many questions remained about the attack, including whether the co-pilot had acted alone; what his motives were; and if his intention was to crash the plane or take control of it and land it in a third country. The plane plunged thousands of feet in minutes and was forced to land in Saudi Arabia after the co-pilot stabbed the captain, according to witnesses and officials.

According to witness accounts, Israeli passengers helped to subdue the attacker, while a dentist on board performed first aid on the pilot, Capt. Smit Machchhar, an Indian citizen who survived. The dentist said Mr. Machchhar had been bleeding profusely from his injuries.

Two reserve pilots on board were credited with stabilizing the plane and landing it safely at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Netanyahu told CNN on Wednesday night that the actions of the Indian captain, the Israeli passengers and the two reserve pilots “managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster,” referring to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Four passengers on board also held dual Israeli-American citizenship, according to a U.S. official.

Here’s what we’re covering:

* **The pilot:** Mr. Machchhar, the Indian pilot, was praised by Mr. Netanyahu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. “Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker,” Mr. Netanyahu said. Read more ›
* **Regional geopolitics:** The fraught geopolitics in the Middle East could complicate any investigation. Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic relations, while Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are regional rivals. Read more ›
* **Passenger accounts:** Landing in Israel shortly after nightfall on Wednesday, passengers recalled the moments of terror, heroic interventions and luck that prevented a disaster. Read more ›

Johnatan Reiss, Ismaeel Naar and Vivian Nereim contributed reporting.

!Leo Sands

Oct. 1, 2026, 8:38 a.m. ET26 minutes ago

Leo Sands

Netanyahu also told Fox News on Thursday that Israeli authorities prohibit pilots from countries that are unfriendly toward Israel from flying into the country, and that should have prevented the suspected assailant, an Omani citizen, from doing so. “We have constraints that say you can’t have pilots from countries that don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel,” Netanyahu said. Oman and Israel do not have diplomatic relations.

!Leo Sands

Oct. 1, 2026, 8:28 a.m. ET36 minutes ago

Leo Sands

In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said suggested that the assailant on the FlyDubai flight may have been ideologically motivated. “We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” Netanyahu said, adding that this was learned from an investigation into the co-pilot’s “personal information.” He did not provide any further details.

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Oct. 1, 2026, 7:14 a.m. ET2 hours ago

Vivian Nereim

Reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

How fraught Middle East geopolitics could complicate FlyDubai investigation.

Image

!A white airplane with "flydubai" text on its side flies with landing gear extended against a blue sky. The tail is blue and orange.

*A replacement plane lands in Israel after carrying passengers who were on a FlyDubai flight that was diverted to Saudi Arabia after a clash between its pilots, on Wednesday.Credit...Erik Marmor/Getty Images*

The government of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday said that it would take the lead in the investigation into the attack aboard the FlyDubai flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv that was forced to land in Saudi Arabia a day earlier.

But as the authorities across the Middle East try to piece together why one pilot attacked another in the cockpit, causing the aircraft to plummet by 17,000 feet in under two minutes, they are tackling a cross-border mystery with dizzying geopolitical complications.

The flight took off from Dubai, the Emirates’ largest city, where the pilots worked for a government-owned carrier. But it made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, where both pilots were hospitalized, and almost all of its passengers were from Israel.

Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic relations, leaving little precedent for how they might cooperate in a criminal investigation.

Separately, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are regional rivals with their own political tensions. Both the Saudi and Emirati authorities also operate very opaquely, and typically release minimal information to the public about investigations.

The Emirati government’s announcement that it would lead the investigation offered few details. The comments were published by the country’s state news agency, and said that the attorney general has formed a team to examine the incident, including to determine any motives, whether it had been planned in advance and whether there were any terrorist connections.

The Emirates has jurisdiction to conduct the investigation, even though the incident happened outside its borders, because the plane was registered in the country and flew under its flag, the statement said. It did not say where the pilot who has been accused of carrying out the attack was being held.

Almost all of the information about what happened on the plane has come from Israeli officials and passengers.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel s