TEL AVIV – More than 48 hours after an apparent attempt to take over a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, the incident is raising fresh security concerns for Israelis and Jewish communities abroad, while leaving hundreds of Israeli travelers stranded in the United Arab Emirates.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in an interview with CNN that Iranian proxies “are planning attacks against Israel and Israeli civilians abroad.” In a separate statement, Netanyahu said he had instructed Israel’s security establishment “to prepare for additional potential threats.”
Doron Spielman, a spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday that Netanyahu’s statement applied to “intelligence about threats against Israelis and against Jews in Israel and around the world,” and that Israel was “employing additional procedures” as a result. He did not disclose the details of the extra precautions.
Spielman added that “all of the Jewish communities around the world know that they’ve been on heightened alert since the seventh of October, but especially right now.”
The incident has also left Israelis stranded in the United Arab Emirates, after flydubai suspended its flights to and from Israel while the investigation into the incident continues.
Netanyahu had told international media on Wednesday that Israel was preparing “rescue flights” to bring Israelis in the UAE home and had ordered increased security. The measures apply to both Israeli and foreign airlines operating flights to Israel.
Dorin Turgeman, an Israeli citizen currently in Dubai, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she had been scheduled to return to Israel Wednesday on a flydubai flight that was canceled. She managed to book a flight with the Israeli airline Arkia but said she remained concerned that it would also be canceled.
Turgeman said Israelis waiting at the Dubai airport were moved to an isolated area and that the area was cordoned off.
“The situation is stressful,” she said, describing the uncertainty as “very frustrating.”
Ophir Shir, an Israeli who lives in Dubai, told Israel’s Kan public broadcaster that the incident had “shaken the sense of security” he’d had. As someone who frequently travels the route of the flydubai flight, he noted that, “In the short term, I will definitely be afraid to take such a flight.”
Dubai has become an increasingly popular destination for Israelis in the wake of the signing of the Abraham Accords establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE. It also now serves as a major transit point for Israelis traveling onward to destinations in Asia. Israeli travel groups on social media have been filled with posts expressing concern about the security situation and uncertainty over how travelers will return home.
The security concerns come as investigators continue to explore the motive behind the incident and whether the pilot was acting alone.
“As time goes by, the picture becomes clearer,” Netanyahu said in an official statement on Friday. “The perpetrator underwent Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane. We are now investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.”
Netanyahu separately told CNN that Israel believes it should participate in the investigation. He said UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed had agreed that Israel would “join the interrogation.”
Netanyahu also told Fox News that “It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane.” He pointed to what he described as “the Islamist tendencies, that radicalization that are found in his background,” saying they were “a pretty good clue,” while stressing that he was not yet drawing a final conclusion.
“I don’t make final conclusions yet. But that’s the indication we have now,” Netanyahu said.
The UAE on Friday publicly described the incident for the first time as a terrorist attack. Anwar Gargash, a senior Emirati official, called it “a dangerous terrorist act and a potential disaster.”
The Omani pilot, whose identity has not been publicly released, was transferred from Saudi Arabia to the UAE, according to Israeli and international media reports.
The other pilot, Indian national Captain Smit Machchhar, has received widespread praise for his actions during the flight. According to passenger accounts and leaders who spoke with him, Machchhar was injured by the Omani pilot but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew members to overpower the attacker and safely land the plane.
“When I was on the ground, I realized the aircraft was falling down. And I knew in that moment, one last push, Smit! Just do it. The door is right there,” Machchhar told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a conversation while still wearing a bandage on his head.
“And even at that time, he was beating me up. And then I just opened it … and then everybody came,” Machchhar said. “I was doing this for my life, but at the same time, I knew that I couldn’t let everybody else die.”
Leaders around the world have praised Machchhar for his actions. Modi told the pilot that his “courage, patience and quick thinking saved the lives of so many people.”
President Donald Trump called Machchhar a “hero” and described his actions as “amazing.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Machchhar had “prevented a 9/11 disaster.”
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