Netanyahu praises stabbed Indian pilot for saving lives on Flydubai flight

Netanyahu meets Flydubai passenger who helped subdue pilot in stabbing attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked an Indian pilot, who was stabbed by a co-pilot, for saving 174 people on board the Flydubai Dubai-Tel Aviv flight that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. “My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery,” Netanyahu wrote on his official X account on Wednesday evening. He said that despite being stabbed and seriously injured, Machchhar “fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker – preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster”.