On Thursday, US President Donald Trump claimed that the Omani co-pilot who stabbed Indian captain Smith Machchar aboard the flydubai plane Wednesday, intending to crash the aircraft, could be linked to Iran.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz described the attack as “attempted jihadist terror attack. Trump was asked by reporters Thursday about the flydubai incident. One reporter specifically asked the President what he thought about a potential Iran involvement in the attack. One of the passengers, Yaniv Hayoun, was the first to rush into the cockpit.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates, from where flydubai operates, said that they are investigating whether the incident was indeed a terror plot. He had earlier said that the attack could be “a terrorist or perhaps a whack job”. He said during a meeting with Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu that he initially took control of the place after overpowering the attacking pilot.
Captain Smith Machchar Earns Praise Worldwide
Among those who paid tribute to Captain Machahar were Netanyahu and Trump. “Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster. Captain Smit Machchar , who worked with Indian carrier SpiceJet for 11 years, earned praise worldwide for the heroic act of opening the cockpit door on time, averting a major crash.
“My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery,” Netanyahu said in a X post Wedensday. Trump, meanwhile, said Machchar was ” in very bad shape… but he had the sense to, amazing, to, in a way he was a hero to open the door.”
