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One World with Zain Asher

Flight Carrying Stranded Passengers Has Landed in Tel Aviv; Passengers Arrive In Israel After Violent Incident On Flydubai Plane; Aired 12-1p ET

Aired September 30, 2026 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:03]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome back. You are watching "One World." I'm Zain Asher.

We begin with the what Israeli -- the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling a most serious security incident aboard a passenger

plane bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai. Benjamin Netanyahu says that one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and appears to have tried to crash the

plane.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: You see here a photo from social media showing a male passenger in a bloodied t-shirt. We can pull up that photo,

I'm referring to.

A spokesperson for Flydubai says there was an altercation in the cockpit and a crew member diverted the -- and landed the aircraft in Saudi Arabia.

The spokesperson cautioned that at this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives are unknown. Earlier, an Israeli official said that an Omani

national was the co-pilot.

We're going to go to Eleni Giokos now to give us the very latest. Eleni, we know that the passengers have landed now after a harrowing day at Ben

Gurion Airport having been diverted to Saudi Arabia. What more are we learning about the sequence of events?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So -- so, I mean, we can get into the sequence because they're really dramatic and -- and frankly just absolutely

harrowing for the passengers we're about to see that have just landed at Ben Gurion Airport.

And we saw some images earlier of some passengers holding flowers, as well as welcome balloons for the families that were waiting for the passengers

that were meant to arrive earlier this morning and hearing the absolute awful news around the incidents that transpired throughout the day.

I mean, a welcome return for these passengers. From what we understand, Flydubai had sent an aircraft to Saudi Arabia to pick up some of the

passengers and take them back to Israel. From what we understand, some passengers refused to board the plane waiting for Israeli military aircraft

on an aircraft way. We know the Israeli government was efforting (ph) that. We also hear from Israeli officials that Riyadh has refused an Israeli

aircraft to land in Saudi Arabia. Keeping in mind, there's no diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

So, these very welcome images, Bianna, I have to say, I mean, some of the accounts that we heard from passengers just absolutely harrowing. And

imagine this, you're sitting at 34,000 altitude, then it just goes down to 16,600 feet. And that is absolutely harrowing.

All the experts that I've spoken to say that that is completely unprecedented. Think about the G-force that the aircraft experienced, that

the people in the plane experienced. We haven't heard anything about injuries of any of the passengers just yet. Flydubai hasn't confirmed that.

We haven't heard that from Israeli sources or officials as yet, but waiting to hear a bit more news around that.

But passengers had to intervene after hearing loud screams from the cockpit. Eventually when they were able to get into the cockpit by the

assistance of Flydubai crew, passengers intervened and were able to neutralize the co-pilots that allegedly stabbed the pilot.

The pilots and co-pilots both had to be taken to hospital. There were two other Flydubai crew that were able to then take control of the aircraft and

landed safely.

And a lot of concern around how this could have gone extremely wrong because when you don't have the pilots manning the plane and, you know,

luckily, and we don't know if it was coincidence or if it's protocol in terms of landing in Israel, there were extra pilots on the plane, Bianna.

So, just, you know, thinking about the families here and the passengers that had to encounter this -- this absolutely harrowing experience.

ASHER: Yes, and obviously, Eleni, we -- we want to avoid any sort of premature speculation about motive at this point in time. But obviously,

you know, for people who are watching and reading what happened here, you have a situation whereby, you know, there is some kind of altercation that

breaks out between two pilots. Most of the passengers on board, about 170 of them, are Israeli. And, obviously, you can't separate that from what is

happening in the region.

[12:05:19]

But talk to us about what the investigation looks like. I mean, obviously, they are going to talk to the passengers. They're going to talk to the

pilots. But give us a sense of how the investigation is going to unfold so that a motive does emerge.

I mean, was this, you know, a pilot-to-pilot altercation? Or was it part of something bigger? I mean, that's the question that a lot of people are

asking.

GIOKOS: So, yes, and it's a very good question. You know, initially when this -- this happened, and it was Israeli officials that confirmed it was a

violent altercation. Flydubai had just said it was an incident.

So, we weren't sure if it was sort of a personal issue between the two pilots, but we knew something went terribly wrong when the aircraft lost so

much altitude.

So, the questions that we're asking right now, why was the plane not on autopilot? So, you know, someone has to take physical control of the plane

for it to drop so dramatically in altitude. So, what transpired in that moment? So, that's t-- that's the one thing.

An aviation expert that I spoke to, it's either that it was deliberate, that it was taken off autopilot to try and get it down to that altitude.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this a little earlier, and they're saying that the -- the pilot had tried to crash the plane, the copilot's

had tried to crash the plane after the stabbing incident.

Now, we don't have that information from Flydubai. And Flydubai has been very explicit and this is what they say, "it is early stage. We don't have

the underlying reasons and motives. And we should refrain from premature speculation, asking all parties to refrain from speculation."

This is after we've heard from Israeli sources and, of course, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu around what transpired and what could be behind

this.

The experience of the passengers, obviously the crew is going to be, you know, interviewed and the -- the pilots, importantly. And, of course,

there's always the black box where, you know, all of this stuff is recorded, where it's going to be very telling in terms of what actually

happened.

Keeping in mind that the Dubai-Tel Aviv route is very popular. UAE and Israel have normalized relations. And it is very telling that the plane had

to land in Saudi Arabia. Now, it's happened before, especially during the war. And, you know, passengers were repatriated safely into Israel. So,

this is what we're seeing again.

There's going to be lot of diplomacy in the background, but analysts that I've spoken to say this isn't just an aviation security issue, but this is

going to be a diplomatic issue as well that the region is going to have to face head on.

ASHER: All right. Eleni Giokos, live for us there. Thank you so much.

All right. Let's hear from Alon Pereg. He is a retired Israel Defense Forces fighter pilot. Alon, thank you so much for being with us.

I mean, as I was just saying to our correspondent there in Dubai, you know, we don't necessarily know the motive just yet, and it's important not to

speculate prematurely at this point in time.

But you look at what the Israeli prime minister said, that this might indeed have been a potential terrorist attack. And if it is, if that is

confirmed as -- as a motive here, it does represent a different type of security threat for Israel, because obviously, Israel has so much

experience when it comes to dealing with rocket attacks, missile attacks, armed infiltrations, that sort of thing. I mean, the Israelis are experts

at dealing with those kinds of threats.

But the idea that you could have a threat on a flight from inside the cockpit, inside the cockpit, is -- is a different type of security threat

for Israel.

If that is confirmed, if it was an attempted terrorist attack, what does that change for Israel going forward in terms of how it deals with aviation

security?

ALON PEREG, RETIRED ISRAELI FIGHTER PILOT: Well, that is a game changer in lots of ways and it should reflect on many aspects of international

aviation as a whole.

But let's think about it, the terror did not manage to attack in the aviation, the general aviation, in the last 25 years, since September 11,

because the world is bracing and trying not to let it prevail.

So, I'm not sure if it's going to launch a new wave on the -- just remember, he did not succeed eventually. So, I'm not sure. There will be

implications. There will be changes in the -- in the global looking of people.

For -- for example, Israeli pilots, I was an -- an airline pilot for the last 20 years, are going through security screening.

[12:10:03]

Do the Dubai or other airlines run through security screening as well? I'm not sure. That's something that could change, I think.

GOLODRYGA: And how would you, Alon, suggest that that change? I mean, this really is historic, and thank goodness it ended the way it did.

But for the first time in over 20 years, there was an attempted hijacking, perhaps, or attack on a plane that was bound for Israel, as you noted,

Israeli pilots are tested, screened, prepared for -- for things that most pilots and passengers around the world can only see in movies.

But what do you think now the standard needs to be for other, either perhaps copycat or this is a very volatile region, it's a volatile world,

to prevent other types of attacks that could end sadly in a much more grave situation?

PEREG: Well, unfortunately, we are, as Israelis, are leading the -- the -- the fight against terror. Remember that before September 11, only Israeli

planes were closed -- closing the cockpit doors. And after September 11, all the world started to do it.

So, everybody did not understand why we did the inspection of passengers while passengers throughout the world were walking into the plane. So, I

think the world should follow the Israeli regulations right now with regards to pilots. There will be attempts again and again. That's correct.

But I think that these regulations should be followed, and I believe the Israeli authorities will cooperate. And I think that's the only way that we

can continue making the aviation safe and maintaining this record of 25 years without any casualty because of terror in the aviation. Remember,

still until today, it was not broken.

ASHER: So, what does it mean specifically if -- if there is additional vetting of crew members, especially on flights going into Tel Aviv? What

does it actually look like?

PEREG: I'm not sure that it will be a physical -- physical thing that will do only to pilots going to Tel Aviv, but I believe that the whole world

should adopt a way to check who are the pilots that are flying the planes.

Because today it's Israel, tomorrow it's a cooperative country, let's say United States, that will be the target of terrorism. So, I believe that all

the world should adopt some kind of a process of validating that their pilots do not have a record of terrorism, et cetera. That's the only thing

that can be done.

And eventually, we have to face it sincerely. The world does not know how to cope with one terrorist that decides to act by himself. So, we might

expect other events like this.

GOLODRYGA: What did you think when you learned of this potential tragedy ended up being a miracle really that as we're seeing passengers, you can't

see what we're seeing, but family members are greeting passengers right now outside of Ben Gurion after they've had that harrowing experience of not

only plunging the way they did thousands of feet but -- but being witness to terror.

When you first heard of this and then found out that the plane was landed, most likely by other pilots, what are some of the lessons learned about how

to avoid a frightening situation like this going forward? Because most passengers don't know how to fly a plane.

PEREG: Yes, that's correct. And I think that the phrase from Peter Pan that you need to do this and this and you need some kind of fairy powder. You

need to have luck here, because we had some components that if they were not there, we would have ended with a tragedy.

One is that the pilot could survive the initial attack. As much as I can say, nobody could open the door from outside unless the pilot would have

done that. That's one thing.

Second thing are the brave passengers that rushed in and neutralized the attacker. And the third thing that there was an extra crew which does not

exist in such events.

[12:15:09]

Now, bear in mind the plane was diving 15,000 feet, something like that, and I believe suffered a very heavy loads on its structure. You can see

that a part of its tail is missing, probably due to the large forces that were on it.

So, the plane was not in its best position to land. So, we had a couple of miracles coming together on this holiday of Sukkot in Israel. So, it's a

kind of a Sukkot miracle, as opposed to something happened three years ago, which was the -- the opposite.

ASHER: Yes, and we're looking at passengers essentially being interviewed at Ben Gurion Airport. I mean, you can imagine the sense of relief,

gratitude. You know, obviously, they're -- they're still shocked about what they experienced, I imagine, but they're being interviewed as they land

after that harrowing flight, that emergency landing that took place in Saudi Arabia --

PEREG: Yes.

ASHER: -- and then the additional plane that ended up taking them to Ben Gurion Airport, their original destination.

I want to ask you what that moment would have been like for the off-duty pilots. I mean, you can just imagine you're an off-duty pilot, you see off-

duty pilots on planes all the time, you're expecting an ordinary flight, right? And then all of a sudden, there might be, and again, I want to avoid

any kind of premature speculation, an attempted hijacking happening in the cockpit.

And as an off-duty pilot, you have to make this very extraordinary, unusual decision about intervening, you know, in a potentially dangerous situation,

a life-threatening situation happening in the cockpit, and then also intervening to land the plane as well.

I mean, there has to have been, as you point out, so many miracles in order for, you know, the outcome that we're seeing unfold on our screens right

now whereby nobody was injured and -- and whatnot, not nobody was injured, but obviously nobody lost their life.

But on top of that, the real sort of quick decision making by those off duty pilots. I mean, really beggar's belief, and it's something that, you

know, will stay with me for a long time. Just give us your take on what that would have been like those -- those few minutes.

PEREG: Yes. I think that every pilot, when they are off duty, like myself, I'm retired from the airline for three years now, every time that I board

the plane, I am in some kind of an alert where -- and I'm thinking about what would that happen if they needed me there.

So, I think that's pretty natural for the pilot to step forward. But again, when it's some kind of event with streaming and things are not really clear

to what's happening, I think it's very much to be appreciated so the pilot could step -- step forward and do it.

Eventually landing a plane, any plane when you are an ex-pilot, should be something that you know -- you know how to do. So --

GOLODRYGA: Alon --

PEREG: -- stepping forward is the thing.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And, Alon, again, we're just showing -- I don't know, I wish you could see it because I would imagine it would be quite emotional

for you as well --

PEREG: I can hear it.

GOLODRYGA: -- to see these pilots. You can hear it. And the reunions --

PEREG: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: -- with family members on what would have just been an ordinary day where something extraordinary, really, in the larger scale of history

has been happening --

PEREG: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: -- for -- for quite a while, for a couple of years now, and that is Israelis flying to the Emirates and vice versa.

I think that the takeaway here in a postmortem shouldn't be to prevent that from happening again. So, what needs to be -- what needs to happen within

both diplomatic circles, and I would say perhaps, you know, for -- for security and safety to make sure that the takeaway isn't to close borders?

PEREG: First of all, we need to know all the facts. And I believe the facts will be revealed. I hope the Saudi authorities will cooperate fully and

reveal, as you said, the black box and all the investigation of the pilot and the attacker.

And then I believe that there will be an analysis that will show exactly what should be done to eliminate the risk, not to annihilate it, but to

eliminate the risk with more checks, with more screening, without killing the aviation between Israel and the -- and the rest of the world.

ASHER: You know, do you think that, you know, obviously, Israelis have a sort of long exposure to security emergencies, you know, just given the

environment that that country is in consistently.

[12:20:09]

Do you think that kind of mindset really helped in this kind of emergency situation? Because you've got to imagine the level of adrenaline, the level

of sort of fear that crew members and passengers would have been feeling. And then to be able to have the presence of mind to still intervene and

land the plane calmly in that kind of environment is really quite -- I mean, it's really quite something, Alon.

PEREG: Yes, it is. It is called, I believe, resilience or the way how you can cope with emergencies. And pilots are trained to do that. And the

Israelis are trained by our nature to go through these events.

And, remember, we're three years in a war. And going abroad should be something that you are looking forward to and not looking forward to diving

in a plane 15,000 feet.

What can I say? It's -- it's a shocking experience. And I believe that we know how to handle it. I hope we will be able to draw the right lessons out

of this.

GOLODRYGA: Alon, if you can speak to us just about this bond, typically 99.9 percent among pilots, no matter their country of origin, what language

they speak, they're all, for the most part, very professional.

If you can speak from your experience as a pilot, perhaps not to falsely, but to -- to reassure and remind our viewers that most flights, you see

nothing but cooperation and professionalism on board planes, no matter their origin or the backgrounds of their pilots.

PEREG: And that's absolutely correct. Keep in mind that right now as we speak, we have more than one million people flying all over the world with

more than five billion people traveling every year all over the world.

And few -- few people are -- are injured within a year. So, this entire safety record cannot be achieved unless all the components are cooperating.

I've been flying 20 years as an airline pilot all over the world. And I could get only good cooperation inside the cockpit, outside, without a

passenger, without traffic controller. This is a community that is -- that has a strong bond and strong common task for safe -- safe travel.

And I think that everybody should remember that eventually, flying is the safest mean of cooperate -- of transportation and maybe even safer than

sitting in a coffee shop somewhere because you are being treated very well.

So, an event like this, remember, nobody was injured, let alone only the -- the pilot, of course, that suffered these things. So, eventually, it works,

this thing.

ASHER: Alon, you mentioned something I thought was quite interesting. It -- at the top of your answer, you said you hope that the right lessons are

learned from this. The right lessons. What did you mean by that?

PEREG: Oh, you caught me, I know. OK. You could very easily paralyze all the world with regulation that will -- will cause suffocation, will not

allow people to travel. You cannot interrogate every pilot from now on before they board on a plane. You cannot stop everything. You have to apply

the right balance between security and operationability (ph). So, you cannot go to one extreme. And I hope and I believe that that's what the --

the overall community is going to do.

Remember after 9/11, there was like a shock, but we continue to fly. And that's what I'm expecting.

GOLODRYGA: Alon, my last question was one of optimism. I'm going to flip that now and turn a bit dark, but I think it is an important question from

a safety and security standpoint as well.

We are seeing all of these passengers leaving the airport with smiles on their faces. It is stunning given what they've experienced today, so

relieved to be home.

[12:25:01]

But you're also a retired Air Force pilot. We know that in the early moments now, when the distress signal went out that Israel scrambled its

planes similarly to what we saw happened after the tragedy of 9/11.

Talk about what those planes would have been trained and prepared to do. And a reminder, those fighter pilots would be approaching a plane filled

with Israeli passengers.

PEREG: I cannot reveal the -- the orders that I was given, but I -- I will tell you this. Eventually when a plane crashes in the center of a large

city, everybody is killed. So, I believe that the orders are -- might -- might be very harmful.

But I -- I don't -- I don't want to expose everything that I know. And I can -- I should leave it to your imagination. It's not a nice thing.

ASHER: Alon, you know, we were talking a moment ago, and my question to you was about the fact that, you know, Israelis obviously do have quite a lot

of experience compared to many other countries in terms of dealing with emergency situations and that kind of mindset, probably assisted in this

security incident.

You talked about the Israeli resilience. And, you know, even though the pilots, or rather the crew members performed exceedingly well under

pressure, even though they ran towards danger, they're still likely, I imagine, Alon, going to be a psychological component to how they recover

from this.

I mean, you're dealing with a situation where a plane dropped about 17,000 feet in two minutes. You had crew members intervening. They could have,

obviously, lost their lives --

PEREG: Yes.

ASHER: -- in terms of the altercation in the cockpit.

So, even though, you know, disaster was averted from a certain perspective and you had these very, very brave crew members intervening, possibly

saving hundreds of lives if not more, you know, the psychological impact of this, I imagine ,will likely stay with some of those crew members for --

for quite some time. Talk to us about that.

PEREG: It's a -- it's a trauma. It's -- actually, it's a trauma for the crew members. It's a trauma for the passengers. It's traumatic for many

more people because we have a lot of people that are suffering for fear of flying and it is triggering them.

So, we have circles of trauma here and we have to address all of them. I believe that the passengers will have to go through some kind of help and

also the -- of course, the -- the pilots, but many people -- and I'm dealing with fear of flying in Israel. I'm helping people. And they're

already contacting me and saying, oh, my fear of flying emerged again. So, yes, these -- these are circles of trauma that will need to be taken care

of.

GOLODRYGA: Alon, you talk about the trauma and we're approaching the third anniversary of the October 7th terror attacks in Israel, a country arguably

still traumatized by what unfolded that day.

When this happened today, did the timing surprise you? I mean, we have a war going on now with Iran. The prime minister of Israel just returned

yesterday from a historic trip for a meeting with the President of the Emirates. Just -- just tell me your -- your take on the timing.

PEREG: My take on the timing is that there is nothing surprising in Israel or in the Middle East as a whole. And we have elections coming and we have

-- we have internal debates and we have everything in it.

So, I -- I'm not sure if that pilot or the -- the ones that we're sending - - sending in, if there were any, calculated it exactly like -- like this. But it is a pile-up of events that we have to deal with and we have to

understand. It's all together.

ASHER: Our CNN aviation correspondent Mary Schiavo joining us live now as well. So, Mary, I want to talk to you about the investigations, right?

Because that's, I imagine, going to be the central focus, especially for Israeli security personnel.

[12:30:03]

You know, they're going to want to construct a minute-by-minute timeline of what happened inside that cockpit, who initiated the attack, what sort of

vetting both pilots would have had. You know, what sort of weapon was used?

I mean we live in a world in the post 9/11 world, you know, you're not -- it's very difficult to bring any kind of weapon aboard an aircraft. Was it

a knife that was used? Was it perhaps something else that they misused in order to initiate some kind of stabbing?

Talk to us about the questions that are going to be asked here, Mary.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a massively important investigation, and after all, it's a criminal investigation in

addition to an aviation security investigation. And it's going to cause literally countries around the world to rethink how they have thought about

security, because since 9/11/2001, everyone has thought about, well, the passengers are the danger. We have to screen them after all.

ASHER: Mary, can -- Mary can we -- can I just stand you by, Mary?

SCHIAVO: Who had a separate lane. They have a separate lane that they could into for security.

ASHER: Mary, can I have you hold that thought? Mary, can I have you hold that thought because a passenger is speaking and we want to listen in.

SCHIAVO: Sure.

(PASSENGER SPEAKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plane starts dropping and, again, (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you feeling right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you feeling (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, yes, for sure.

ASHER: All right. We were just trying to hear what a passenger who was aboard that Flydubai plane that was diverted to Saudi Arabia and then

obviously landed moments ago at Ben Gurion Airport. It was very difficult to hear him, but obviously there clearly is a sense of relief.

And, you know, a lot of people have questions about what -- what passengers experienced on that harrowing flight.

Mary, I'm going to have you continue your thought. You were talking about the investigation.

SCHIAVO: Sure. Well, and I said they were going to rethink whether or not we need to have these separate lanes for aircraft crew that they can have

less scrutiny as to what they're carrying on board.

They keep referring to a stabbing. Everybody assumes a knife, but you're correct. We don't know yet what they -- you know, what the attacker had.

And then also it's going to bring up the issues again that we discussed many times over the years about pilot suicides. EgyptAir back in 1999, the

plane was intentionally crashed into the Atlantic Ocean coming out of the Western Hemisphere.

We're going to discuss the Germanwings flight again that was back in 2015. So, pilot checking, backgrounds, mental health, criminal contacts,

associations, all that's going to come into play.

And then again, people will be questioning the fact that this plane was full of Israeli citizens and people will remember the hijacking of Air

France way back in 1976, where it ended in Entebbe in Uganda with Israeli forces freeing the plane, led by none other than a young Israeli named

Netanyahu. He died on July 4th, 1976. That will come into play as to whether this was an attempt to hijack the plane for hostages to exchange.

There's so many issues here. This is a massive investigation and a massively important investigation.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, you're referencing Yoni Netanyahu, the older brother of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who became a real hero and remains as

much in Israel.

If -- if I can bring Alon back in to the conversation. And, Alon, as a former pilot and answering or trying to get more information on what

actually, what could be used as a weapon inside of a cockpit if that weapon wasn't brought on board by the pilot.

Earlier in the hour, we spoke with our aviation analyst who said that there are -- there's an axe that is in -- in the -- the cockpit that can be used

in case of an emergency.

Just give us your take without jumping to conclusions about those types of possibilities.

PEREG: Oh, guys, I think --

SCHIAVO: Well, absolutely. I mean, there are many things in the cockpit.

GOLODRYGA: Oh, no. Mary, sorry. I think we -- that -- that was to Alon. But, Alon, I don't know --

SCHIAVO: OK.

GOLODRYGA: Can we cut -- get his mic back up? Alon?

ASHER: He's talking.

GOLODRYGA: OK.

ASHER: We can have Mary answer the question.

GOLODRYGA: Mary, yes.

OK. We are going to -- we're having technical issues as we, obviously, are following this breaking news story. We're going to take a quick break and

be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:11]

ASHER: All right. Let's take a look here. You are looking at live pictures. This is at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv where airline passengers who

survived a really terrifying ordeal have now landed safely at Israel's main international airport.

The Israeli prime minister says that one of the pilots aboard a passenger plane that was bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai essentially stabbed another

and appears to have tried to crash the plane. Benjamin Netanyahu says the passengers and crew broke into the cockpit and subdued the assailants.

Right now, it is 7:30 in the evening there in Tel Aviv. We've seen people being interviewed. There's a heavy media presence, as you can imagine, at

Ben Gurion Airport. And we've seen a lot of people cheering and just, you know, a very sort of celebratory mood at the airport, given what those

passengers experienced and may have indeed survived.

CNN's Eleni Giokos is in Dubai for us following this story. So, Eleni, you have a situation whereby Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister,

has sort of drawn his own conclusions or rather, you know, sort of looking at the situation. Obviously, he's spoken to Israeli security personnel

about what happened on this flight.

But it is important to -- to really reiterate that there hasn't been a formal investigation yet about what took place. We don't want to speculate

prematurely. What do we know for sure at this point, Eleni?

GIOKOS: Yes. I mean, really important questions there. And we've been asking these all day.

What we know for sure is that there was a violent altercation. This has been confirmed by Flydubai, as well as Israeli officials.

[12:40:03]

We know what -- how violent and dangerous it was because we've seen a lot of the images that are now being released from the passengers that were on

board.

We also know that this plane dropped dramatically by 17,400 feet in two minutes, according to Flight radar, showing how serious, dramatic and

dangerous the situation became.

Flydubai has also released really importantly more information around two other pilots that were on board that were able to stabilize the plane and

then landed safely in Tabuk in northwestern parts of Saudi Arabia.

This plane released an emergency signal in the early hours of this morning, and that obviously activated quite a lot of concern in the region. But

importantly Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as the defense minister, got together in a security cabinet meeting and also activated jet fighters as

well.

This all goes to show that this is not only an aviation issue, but also something very serious that transpired on the plane and Israeli officials

and sources tell us that this could have been a terror attack.

Flydubai says, we should not speculate that authorities and all parties involved should not speculate at this point while they are conducting the

investigation, which will be absolutely pertinent in understanding why and how the people on board this flight went through one of the most harrowing

experiences, experiencing the G-force of that drop. And importantly, not knowing if they were going to be able to land safely.

We're seeing some of these images from Ben Gurion Airport. A lot of children, Zain, that were on board that flight. One can only imagine what

they experienced. And then a few hours later, having to board another Flydubai flight to get to Israel.

So, all of these things playing a big role psychologically, physically on the passengers, and then importantly, what this ultimately means in terms

of security threats. If it is a terror attack, what does it ultimately mean for the region? What does it mean for Israel? What does it mean for the

UAE?

GOLODRYGA: Eleni, let's listen in.

GIOKOS: Oh, let's listen in, actually. Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

(PARAMEDIC SPEAKING)

ARYEH MYERS, PARAMEDIC: To make sure that there were no serious injuries. We just want to know if people who -- just to -- and show that they were

OK. We did a number of assessments once they reached the hall inside the terminal.

One -- one passenger (INAUDIBLE) was taken to hospital with a chest injury. He's also in mild condition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your name?

MYERS: My name is Aryeh Myers, paramedic with Magen David Adom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you spell it for me?

MYERS: A-R-Y-E-H, M-Y-E-R-S.

GOLODRYGA: Eleni, I -- I believe it was very difficult to hear from this paramedic who was speaking with reporters as family members are cheering,

as they're greeting loved ones, but it sounded like he said all passengers, all things considered, are safe and mentioned perhaps one passenger that

may have been checked into a hospital with some injuries. That -- that was all I could really glean from what he said, but we'll follow up on that

story. And the latest on the -- the physical and obviously the emotional state of so many of these passengers.

GIOKOS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, one of the things that I spoke with -- the aviation experts that I've spoken to they said they would be very surprised

if there wasn't any injury because of that, you know, that plummet in -- in altitude, unless everyone was wearing seatbelts.

And then you've also got the issue of loose objects that could be flying around. So, you know, interesting to hear that perhaps someone has been

treated.

But by all accounts, Flydubai has said that everyone was safe and accounted for. I think we'll get more information in terms of the physical toll of

many of the passengers.

But very notable here, I mean, there's a lot of -- you know, people are happy. This could have been absolutely a tragic incident.

We also heard from family members earlier in the day when they had no idea what was going on, waiting for this flight to land. As the news broke, we

heard testimony from some of the families and absolutely petrified about, you know, what actually ensued. The fact that it landed safely in Saudi

Arabia by many people had been said this was a miracle.

We also have heard there are a couple of families that decided to stay behind in Tabuk. They didn't want to board a Flydubai plane, according to

Israeli officials. And that Riyadh had rejected allowing Israeli aircraft to land in Saudi Arabia. We're also monitoring that side of the story.

And, Biana, I have to remind you, there are no diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. They did open up airspace for flyovers in 2022.

There was a bit of warming. And earlier this year, you'll remember when an aircraft had to land during the height of the war in Riyadh, you know,

Israelis were repatriated back to Israel safely.

[12:45:09]

So, you know, there is precedent for this. So, let's see how this transpires. But, you know, these images are absolutely incredible to see

after, you know, covering the story all day and hearing some of the testimony and the harrowing experiences.

And also just really heartwarming to see some children on board here as well. One can only imagine their experience that lasted, you know, a few

hours this morning, not knowing how it was going to end.

GOLODRYGA: No doubt. So reassuring to see that this reunion happening right now.

I just want to bring in, I believe, do we have Yossi ready? Yossi Melman, can you hear us?

We're going to take a quick -- we're going to take a quick break and come back with an Israeli security analyst right after.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right. Take a look here. We are looking at live pictures of what is not an ordinary evening at Ben Gurion Airport. You see a few people

there waving the Israeli flag and passengers being interviewed as they land on -- on what -- what was quite frankly a pretty harrowing flight that was

from Dubai all the way to Tel Aviv and then had to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

That -- that -- those passengers have now arrived at Ben Gurion Airport. And there is an atmosphere of relief, celebration, and certainly gratitude,

quite frankly, towards the crew members and the off-duty pilots who intervened to ensure that that plane did land safely.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Let's bring in Israeli intelligence security commentator, Yossi Melman, for more now.

Yossi, you've written on X that the facts so far point to an attempt to crash this plane in -- in a September 11th type style. Given everything

that you are hearing from your contacts in the security establishment, how much of that is established and what is still the working assumption?

Because as we heard from Air Dubai, they are not making statements like this right now.

YOSSI MELMAN, ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Yes, it's pretty established. The Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said it was a

terror attempt. It was -- it was supposed to be an Israeli 9/11, no doubt about it.

[12:50:05]

Due to the bravery of the pilot, the captain, an Indian captain, who fought when he was stopped by his co-pilot from Oman. And because of the courage

decision by his three, four Israeli passengers who entered the cockpit, they basically saved the lives of 180 Israelis.

And -- and the crew, and one has also to acknowledge that, luckily, there was an alternative crew on board and they took over the sticks and

stabilized the -- the plane before he landed safely in Saudi Arabia.

ASHER: Yossie, just talk to us about, you know, what the investigation is really going to be looking at here. I mean, obviously, you know, there's

going to be interviews that -- that will take place with passengers, crew members who intervened, obviously, the pilots. You know, the voice

recorders are going to be paramount, you know, trying to establish some kind of timeline and really looking at what kind of potential weapon was

brought inside the cockpit.

We all know that post 9/11, it is very difficult to bring in any kind of sharp object, weapon onto a flight, let alone a cockpit. And -- and whether

or not it was actually a knife that was used or another object, another sharp object that was potentially misused. What will be the focus for

investigators, Yossi?

MELMAN: Well, the -- the focus will be on the co-pilot. It was -- it would -- it is already an going -- ongoing investigation, a joint team of Saudi

Arabian and the Iraqi, the Omani also it is and the Israel, the Mossad and Shin Bet, they are investigating.

And the -- the focus would be on the background of the Omani co-pilot, how he was trained by whom. Did he write before the flight, any post that could

provide some signs that he planned something or talked to friends and -- and family in order to establish what was his motive, but the motive is

clear that he wanted to crash the --- the airplane.

Now, I believe that the lesson that will be drawn, not just by from this investigation would be that security has been -- has to be tightened not

only screening and vetting passengers but also the crew members and especially foreign crew members who are hired by the -- the aviation

companies.

They have to go light detectors, their background has to be -- has to be really reviewed and checked very thoroughly.

ASHER: Yossi, we have to leave it there, but thank you so much for joining us on this.

We'll be right back with more --

MELMAN: Thank you.

ASHER: -- after the short break.

MELMAN: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:59]

ASHER: All right. We want to quickly recap our breaking news. Passengers from the diverted Flydubai flight have been arriving at Ben Gurion Airport

there in Tel Aviv moments ago. One of the passengers on that towering flight spoke about the ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tell you, the -- the -- the most terrifying moment in this flight was when the pilot lost his control and the plane was falling

down something about six kilometers and then I felt that I'm losing it and I'm going to -- to lose all my family. My wife was beside me. My little boy

was also beside me.

And I -- I can tell it I was separating from -- from them and then that's all. It was very, very terrifying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see the struggle?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) struggle in the aircraft?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. Although I -- I -- I seated the front of the airplane --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was -- yes, there -- there -- there was a group of young people and they fought with the -- with the second pilot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: A passenger there describing the harrowing ordeal that they experienced today. I think he speaks for all those passengers that they are

just so grateful to be home and reunited with their family.

All right. That is it for "One World" today. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Thank you so much for watching. "Amanpour" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:00]

END