Make New York Post a Preferred Source The courageous Israeli plumber who helped subdue the alleged hijacker co-pilot of Wednesday’s Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight was praised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for preventing “another 9/11.”
Netanyahu praised passenger Yaniv Hayoun for his heroics aboard the flight from Dubai – and vowed to find out if Iran was behind the attack that sent the plane into a horrifying nosedive.
The co-pilot of a FlyDubai plane is seen injured and bound in a video circulated Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. The unidentified co-pilot stabbed and injured the pilot, Captain Smit Machchhar, in an attempt to crash the flight en route to Tel Aviv, Israel, from Dubai. East2West “He acted with a coolness of judgement and heroism that prevented another 9/11,” the prime minister said of Hayoun on Fox News’ “Hannity” Wednesday night.
Netanyahu met with Hayoun, who was “completely stained with the blood,” after making it back to Israeli soil safely.
The hero told the prime minister “he just had to do it” when he selflessly jumped into action from the plane’s 16th row during the bloody attack.
“He’s an incredible hero. Look at what he did under impossible circumstances,” Netanyahu told host Sean Hannity.
“Without his courage, we’d have faced a disaster of unbelievable proportions,” he added.
Netanyahu said he also spoke with Hayoun’s children who were onboard the horrifying flight, who said they “flew to the ceiling” during the flight.
Benjamin Netanyahu appears on “Hannity.” Netanyahu credited an Israeli plumber on a flydubai flight for preventing “another 9/11” and vowed to find out if Iran was behind the attack. Fox News The prime minister stopped short of calling the alleged hijacking attempt a terrorist attack, but he pledged to find out the co-pilot’s motive.
“We’ll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices, whether Iran was behind it. I think we’ll find out, very soon,” he said.
