What The Terrorist Said After Passengers Took Back The Plane

The Omani pilot accused of trying to crash a Dubai-to-Israel flight had one final request after Israeli passengers wrestled him away from the controls and tied him up with a headphone cable: He wanted them to kill him.

“He was saying ‘Kill me’ — meaning that he failed at his mission and prefers to die,” the passengers told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, recounting the struggle that unfolded after the pilot allegedly stabbed his fellow pilot and sent the plane plunging thousands of feet.

The identity of the attacker has not been publicly released, but he has been transferred from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates, according to the Associated Press.

Netanyahu told Fox News that information gathered during the ongoing investigation led Israeli authorities to conclude that the co-pilot had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination.”

Netanyahu met with four of the passengers who helped save Flydubai Flight FZ1073 — Yaniv Hayun, Or Pradilov, Dr. Shota Musaev, and his wife, Sigalit — and heard their account of the struggle inside the cockpit.

The group said they ordered the attacker to speak English so everyone could understand what he was saying. At the time, they also did not know whether other members of the flight crew were involved.

“We tried to maintain control over the situation, because we couldn’t trust anyone,” one passenger said in a video released by Netanyahu’s office.

The passengers’ account provides new details about the frantic moments after the Omani co-pilot allegedly stabbed Indian Captain Smit Machchhar and attempted to seize control of the Boeing 737 MAX carrying 174 people.

As the plane plunged roughly 17,000 feet, passengers and crew members overpowered the attacker. Machchhar, despite suffering serious stab wounds, helped enable the passengers to enter the cockpit before additional crew members took control of the aircraft.

The plane ultimately landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, and the passengers later returned safely to Israel.

Netanyahu praised the four passengers for their actions, telling them that “the entire world sees the Israeli heroism” and announcing that they would light a torch honoring civilian heroism at Israel’s Independence Day ceremony.

“With supreme heroism, resourcefulness, and faith you prevented a huge disaster and saved many lives,” Netanyahu told them.

The dramatic revelations came as President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that Iran may be linked to the alleged terrorist attack.

Asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocy whether the attacker had ties to Iran, Trump said, “I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is yes, but we’re working on it right now.”

A reporter then asked Trump whether the United States would retaliate against Iran if Tehran were determined to be behind the attack.

“Oh, they’ll be hit very hard,” Trump responded. “Don’t worry. You just ask them. They know what happened.”

The incident has been described by Israeli officials as an attempted jihadist terror attack.

After returning to Israel from Saudi Arabia, Hayun, one of the passengers who helped stop the attack, described the frantic moments inside the cockpit.

Hayun said he and another passenger struggled to force open the cockpit door, where the wounded captain was pressed against it. He said he believed the injured pilot managed to open the door himself before collapsing.

“When I got inside, I saw the attacker on the controls, between the two seats,” Hayun told Netanyahu. “There were no pilots in the seats. One was down, and the attacker was on the controls.”

Hayun said he grabbed the attacker and put him in a chokehold before pulling him away from the controls. Other Israeli passengers then rushed into the cockpit to help restrain him.

“He was trying to destroy the controls in order to disable the plane. That’s what I saw,” Hayun said.

Hayun said he returned to the controls and began pulling them back, helping bring the aircraft out of its descent. When Netanyahu asked how he knew what to do, Hion first said he’d learned by watching “Air Crash Investigation.” Hayun, a plumber, had never flown a plane.

Hayun said the plane began leveling out before another pilot aboard the aircraft took control and ultimately landed the plane in Saudi Arabia.