A flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after one pilot stabbed another in the cockpit in what Israeli leaders described as an apparent attempt to crash the aircraft. Passengers and crew overpowered the attacker, and the plane landed safely at Tabuk, a city in north-western Saudi Arabia. The airline has since suspended all flights to and from Israel while authorities investigate.

The flight, FZ1073, carried 174 people, most of them Israelis according to media reports. According to flight-tracking data cited by the BBC, the aircraft lost about 17,000 feet in roughly a minute. Passengers described screaming, a sudden change in air pressure and a sensation likened to a rollercoaster. Passenger Yaniv Hayoun, a plumber, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video released by his office that the stabbed pilot managed to open the cockpit door before collapsing. Inside, he said, the attacker was trying to destroy the instruments to disable the plane. Hayoun said he put the man in a chokehold and dragged him out, then pulled the controls to help level the aircraft until another pilot took over. Another passenger, Zvika Meness, said the attacker was tied up with his own zip ties and headphones. The airline said an off-duty flydubai crew travelling on the flight helped secure the aircraft and land it.

The wounded pilot was identified as Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national from Mumbai. The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said he is in stable condition in a hospital in Tabuk. Netanyahu called him a "true hero", and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his courage helped save hundreds of lives. Israeli and Saudi fighter jets were reportedly scrambled during the incident, and passengers were flown on to Tel Aviv on replacement aircraft, where Netanyahu met them.

The motive remains unclear. Israeli officials, speaking anonymously, said the suspect is an Omani national; Oman and the UAE have not commented. Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, called it a "terror attack from a radical individual" but said it could not yet be linked to a state or organisation, while Defence Minister Israel Katz spoke of an attempted "jihadist terror attack" without citing his sources. Netanyahu said it was too early to say whether Iran was involved. US President Donald Trump said the attacker was "perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack-job". The suspect is being questioned by Saudi authorities and is expected to be transferred to the UAE, where Netanyahu says Israel will join the interrogation. Flydubai urged all sides to avoid "premature speculation".

The incident matters because it touches on a sensitive relationship: Israel's foreign ministry framed it as an attack on Israelis, the UAE and the Abraham Accords, the 2020 agreements that normalised ties between Israel and the UAE. It also highlights a known gap in aviation security. As one security expert noted, post-9/11 measures such as hardened cockpit doors focus on outside threats, while insider threats remain hard to prevent. Israel has said it will tighten identity checks and security screening for foreign pilots and raise security on flights carrying Israelis.