WILD!: Israeli Hero Tells Netanyahu How He Choked Out Cockpit Attacker and Pulled Flydubai Jet Out of a Dive

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down Wednesday with a blood-stained passenger who helped stop what Israeli officials call an attempted jihadist terror attack on a Tel Aviv-bound Flydubai flight, then pulled the plunging jet back to level flight.

Yaniv Hayun, still wearing the same white shirt stained from the struggle, recounted the chaotic minutes aboard flight FZ1073 as Netanyahu listened at Ben Gurion Airport. Hayun said the stabbed captain managed to open the cockpit door before collapsing, allowing passengers to rush in. “I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold, and pulled him out,” Hayun told the prime minister. He then jumped back into the cockpit, grabbed the controls, and started pulling them back until another pilot took over.

Netanyahu embraced him. When Hayun apologized for the blood on his clothes, the prime minister replied that it was an honor to meet him that way. Hayun answered, “We are a nation of lions.” Netanyahu called him a lion and a great hero, saying the passengers had saved many lives and prevented a major disaster.

The co-pilot, identified by Israeli officials as an Omani national, stabbed the captain mid-flight from Dubai and appeared to try crashing the Boeing 737 MAX with nearly 170 people aboard, most of them Israelis, according to Netanyahu. Flight data showed the aircraft dropped thousands of feet in seconds and transmitted emergency and hijacking codes before being diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely. Extra Flydubai pilots traveling as passengers later helped fly the plane.

Defense Minister Israel Katz called it an “attempted jihadist terror attack.” The suspect was arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities. All passengers were later flown onward to Israel. Netanyahu said he spoke with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed about tightening aviation security on the route.

Hayun, who has an aviation background, told Netanyahu he drew on what he had seen in air-disaster documentaries while fighting the dive. The prime minister saluted the passengers and crew for “exceptional resourcefulness and courage.”