Defense Minister Israel Katz officially confirmed on Wednesday that the severe incident aboard flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv was a full-fledged jihadist terror attack. Delivering a public address, the defense minister made clear that according to preliminary intelligence assessments in the defense establishment’s possession, the terrorist’s sole objective was to deliberately crash the airliner with all passengers aboard, precipitating a catastrophic mass-casualty disaster in the skies. The catastrophe was averted through prompt, decisive action inside the passenger cabin.
According to Katz, the attack was successfully foiled through the extraordinary valor of several Israeli passengers. Realizing the immediate threat, the passengers took decisive action, breached the cockpit door, and forcefully overpowered the terrorist. Through their heroic intervention, they personally wrestled control of the aircraft away from the attacker. They transferred it to an additional flight crew aboard, preventing an intentional crash and saving dozens of civilian lives.
In his remarks, Katz issued a resolute message aimed at regional adversaries and domestic critics alike: “When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I issue intelligence-based defense alerts, everyone—both external enemies and uninformed former officials at home—would do well to listen closely and take them seriously.” He added that every intelligence warning serves defined operational targets, emphasizing that alerts do not preclude preemptive and offensive operations against emerging threats.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had instructed the defense establishment to prepare for additional potential threat scenarios following the mid-air crisis. After hours of uncertainty, a flydubai extraction flight landed in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, and began boarding passengers from the diverted flight. One passenger reported that boarding had begun, though several Israelis opted out of boarding due to trauma from the ordeal. The rescue flight is projected to land at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday evening, where the Israel Airports Authority has set up an intake center for passengers and their families in Terminal 1.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu concluded a high-level operational debrief with defense and civil aviation leadership, formally adopting Transportation Minister Miri Regev’s recommendation to immediately suspend flydubai operations to Israel until a comprehensive investigation is completed.
Regev stated that flydubai violated bilateral aviation protocols signed under the Abraham Accords, which mandate that only flight crews holding citizenship from nations maintaining official diplomatic relations with the State of Israel are authorized to operate flights into Israeli airspace. An Israeli official confirmed that the first officer, an Omani national, had never previously flown routes into Israel.
The security incident has already generated substantial commercial ripple effects: shares of Israeli carriers El Al and Israir surged on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Wednesday, reflecting market expectations that Israeli travelers will overwhelmingly prioritize domestic airlines until full operational clarity is restored.