WATCH VIDEO – MIRACLE: Heroic Israelis thwart Arab hijacking on flight from UAE, saving 180 souls from certain death
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — Imagine for a moment just what a catastrophe it would have been if Israel had to shoot down an Arab passenger plane over an Arab country – Jordan or Saudi Arabia – killing 180 people, mostly Israelis.
That’s what almost happened this morning.
And that’s the big story out of Israel today.
The co-pilot of a routine flydubai commercial flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel on Wednesday morning allegedly began repeatedly stabbing the pilot as the plane approached the Kingdom of Jordan, inbound to Tel Aviv.
Details are still emerging at this hour, but Israeli officials say that the co-pilot was apparently attempting to hijack the plane.
It seems he was planning on flying a kamikaze-style attack in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, just as Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and flew them into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, into the Pentagon in Washington, and into a field in rural Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.
The life-and-death fight between the two pilots inside the flydubai cockpit caused the Boeing 737 Max to plunge some 17,000 feet in about a minute.
As videos posted on social media show, many passengers began screaming, fearing for their lives.
Others began praying, including reciting the Shema, the Hebrew prayer from the Bible that begins, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is One.”
At one point, as the fight for control of the plane continued, the co-pilot tried to push the stabbed pilot, who was bleeding profusely, out of the cockpit.
That was his critical mistake.
And that one saved the day.
By unlocking the steel-reinforced and impenetrable cockpit door, the co-pilot unwittingly allowed passengers to see what was really happening.
They saw the fight.
They saw the pilot covered in blood.
They saw the co-pilot wielding a knife.
They felt the G-forces as the plane plummeted towards the earth.
And they knew they had only seconds to react.
Fortunately, a group of Israeli men sitting near the front of the plane reacted instantly.
🚨🇮🇱🇸🇦🇦🇪 The Israeli Air Force was reportedly ready to send 3 C-130 Hercules aircraft to pick up the stranded Israeli FlyDubai passengers...
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 30, 2026
But because they do not have official diplomatic relations, Riyadh did NOT immediately grant authorization for Israeli assets to land on… https://t.co/fFvphRWlAa
They rushed the cockpit, subdued the co-pilot, grabbed the knife away from him, and heroically – and I would say miraculously – saved 180 souls onboard.
In the accompanying video, I explain in greater detail what happened.
How Israeli leaders scrambled fighter jets to intercept the plane.
And how close both Israel and the United Arab Emirates came to disaster.
It’s been 20 years or so since someone has tried to hijack a plane and fly it into or at Israel.
Today’s incident raises serious questions about how the UAE security screening process could have missed this co-pilot and not seen him as a threat.
How could this co-pilot have been in this position?
There are some reports that say the co-pilot was not an Emirati but a substitute co-pilot whose nationality was Omani, a small Gulf country next to the UAE.
But Oman does not have a normalization agreement with Israel.
The United Arab Emirates does have a peace treaty with Israel – indeed, it was the first country to join the Abraham Accords in 2020.
Other Arab countries in the region, like Bahrain and Morocco, have normalized relations with the Jewish state.
But Oman has not.
And the agreement between Israel and the UAE over civilian air traffic is that any pilot or co-pilot, anyone on the crew of a flight from the UAE, has to be from a country that has normalized relations with Israel.
So, what went wrong?
ALL ISRAEL NEWS will continue covering this story from multiple angles in the days ahead.
But for now, we need to thank God for the miracle.
The God of Israel has protected every life on that plane, Israeli and Emirati, and others.
We need to thank the Lord that Israelis here in the Land were protected from what could have been a second 9/11-style attack.
This plane could have been flown into a high-rise business tower or an apartment tower in Tel Aviv, or into the Knesset, or into the Israeli prime minister's residence, or into the Supreme Court, or into the Temple Mount, or into the Dome of the Rock.
There are all kinds of horror scenarios that could have unfolded, but God has protected Israel today.
Let us bow our heads in gratitude to the God of Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps.
Let us also thank Him for the bravery of those Israeli passengers who took quick action.
Please also pray for the pilot to survive and fully recover – and for everybody who was on that plane to recover emotionally from this trauma.
