Flydubai survivors reach Israel as Riyadh declines Israeli rescue flight

Tel Aviv — The survivors of flydubai flight FZ1073 have landed in Israel, closing a 48-hour ordeal that began when the jet's co-pilot stabbed the captain in the cockpit and tried to crash the Dubai–Tel Aviv service into the ground. Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia, where the stricken aircraft diverted, confirmed that all passengers had left the country aboard a replacement flight. Families gathered at Ben Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv to receive them, in what officials described as the first known flight between Saudi Arabia and Israel — two countries with no formal diplomatic relations. Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia turned down an Israeli request to send its own plane to collect the passengers from Tabuk, a request that would have required Israeli military aircraft to land in the kingdom. Riyadh says it will not establish ties with Israel without the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met one of the passengers — still covered in blood — hailed the travellers and crew who overpowered the co-pilot as heroes. His office said security would be "ramped up" on Israeli and non-Israeli carriers after the incident. Netanyahu said the co-pilot, who worked for flydubai for less than a year, had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination" before the attack, though he could not say whether he was linked to Iran or another group. "It's clear he was suicidal. That's not a question. It was clear he was going to down that plane," Netanyahu told Fox. Israeli officials have described the attack as an attempted act of terrorism. It remains unclear whether the co-pilot brought a knife aboard or used an axe carried as standard cockpit equipment. Netanyahu also said Israel would close a loophole that had allowed pilots from countries with which it has no diplomatic relations to fly into the country. The attack unfolded against the backdrop of the US–Iran war, now in its eighth month. USA Today reported that Trump rejected a September 26 Iranian proposal to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to the US naval blockade, while denying reports that he offered sanctions relief: "I offered them NOTHING!"