Following the incident on the plane: Netanyahu cancels visit to the south; Shin Bet will question passengers upon landing
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a visit to the Southern Command following an incident on a Flydubai flight that was diverted to Saudi Arabia. The suspicion: the Omani co-pilot attempted to crash the plane. Shin Bet will question the passengers upon their landing.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled today (Wednesday) a planned visit to the Southern Command with Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz, following an unusual incident on Flydubai flight FZ1073, which was en route to Israel and was diverted to land in Saudi Arabia. The main suspicion being investigated is that the co-pilot, an Omani citizen, attempted to crash the plane. An Emirati pilot-in-command subdued him with the help of passengers and a covert security officer who was on the flight. The co-pilot is under investigation in Saudi Arabia, with the participation of Israeli officials. Netanyahu and Katz instructed the IDF to send military rescue aircraft to return the passengers to Israel. In the defense establishment's top echelons, the assessment is growing that this is a terrorist act, and Shin Bet teams are conducting an in-depth investigation. Flight tracking data shows an abnormal descent from an altitude of 34,000 feet to approximately 14,000 feet at an instantaneous descent rate of about 30,976 feet per minute.