It could have been a major disaster for Israel…which, no doubt would have thrilled a great many people around the world, including many Israel/Jew haters in the United States – mostly, these days, among the lunatic left which, increasingly, is taking over the Democrat Party.
But due to astonishing bravery on the part of several passengers, and a good deal of just plain luck, it didn’t happen.
From an unbylined article at CBS News/AP:
A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia Wednesday after a violent attempt by one of the pilots to seize control of the aircraft and crash it, passengers and Israeli officials said.
“As they were approaching Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and apparently attempted to crash the plane with everyone on board,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement, lauding passengers and other crew members who intervened. The prime minister said he instructed Israel’s “security establishment to prepare for potential additional threats.”
An Israeli security official told CBS News that authorities were investigating the possibility that the incident could have been an attempted Sept. 11-style terror attack, and whether the attacker was working alone.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called it “an attempted jihadist terror attack, which was thwarted only thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist, and with their own hands returned control of the aircraft to an additional flight crew that was present,” according to a statement.
The plane diverted to make an emergency landing in Tabuk, where there is a civilian airport adjacent to a Saudi military base. No passengers were injured in the incident, but the pilot attacked by his fellow crewmember reportedly sustained stab wounds, and Saudi authorities said two crew members were hospitalized with unspecified injuries.
According to Netanyahu, the pilot who carried out the stabbing was placed under arrest and was “being questioned by the Saudi authorities.”
Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon said the plane was “pretty much out of control” when the stabbing took place over Jordan.
“The co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane,” she told reporters by speakerphone held up by her mother, who was waiting at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. “It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralized him.”
“There was also a doctor who gave first aid, and people who treated both of them. Other than the pilot, there were no injuries, but the bigger fear was really a crash, which is exactly what he was trying to do,” Ohayon said.
Another passenger told the Jerusalem Post that intervening passengers shouted at two off-duty pilots at the back of the plane “to run and take control” of it, and one of them did so after the passengers managed to remove the attacker from the cockpit.
A frightening incident to say the least. but hardly a major surprise that such an attempt would be made in these increaslingly ugly times.
Fortunately, this one has a remarkably positive ending.
But, it grieves me to say, with Israel/Jew hatred at its current level we should not be surprised if other such attempts are made in the future.
