The Arabic crew of the hijacked Flydubai plane shockingly clashed with Israeli passengers who subdued the axe-wielding co-pilot, demanding that he be freed, two men who helped secure the terror suspect told The New York Post in exclusive interviews.
โThey were asking us to untie the terrorist โ we had no idea why,โ said banking executive Tzvika Manes, one of the three civilians who took down the would-be hijacker.
โThey were saying to free the terrorist โ we got instantly suspicious of them,โ said real estate professional Daniel Schlichter, who was sitting in the second row, close to the cockpit.
Manes, 40, was traveling with his wife and three daughters aged 11, 7, and 6, after a family vacation in Japan, when the co-pilot, identified by The Wall Street Journal as an Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, began hacking at the Indian pilot, Capt. Smit Machchhar, with a crash axe.
The seriously injured Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door. Manes, along with plumber Yaniv Hayoun and Asaf Rajuan, rushed to confront the attacker and overpowered him.
Hayoun, a plumber, then managed to stabilise the plane using techniques he witnessed on the TV show โAir Disasters.โ
Then the three Israelis subdued the pilot and restrained him face-down with his hands tied behind his back โ first with zip ties, then using headphone wires that Schlicter gathered from passengers.
As he was subdued, Hayoun heard the terrorist cry, โKill me, kill meโ โ apparently because he failed in his Jihadist mission, Manes said.
Yet some Flydubai crew members began demanding that he be freed.
An argument ensued and the Israeli trio shot back that under no circumstances would the suspected terrorist be released.
โThey said, โYou are not God, you are not going to kill him,'โ Manes recalled.
โWe didnโt want to kill him, we just wanted him not to kill us.โ
Schlichter, 59, who was also returning from a vacation in Japan with his wife, and Manes both said that the Israelis even gave the wounded terrorist an oxygen mask.
โWe wanted him to live so he could be investigated,โ Schlichter said.
A power play ensued with the Flydubai crewmembers insisting that they were in charge of the plane and needed to remain alone in the area directly in front of the cockpit.
The Israelis, fearing the crew could be involved in the pilotโs plot, ordered the stewards to leave the cockpit area and to take seats in the middle of the plane.
โWe told them, โNow the policy is weโre in charge and you do what we say,โ โ Manes said.
โWe didnโt know what to think, we were in a suspicious mode for every steward.โ
A group of passengers, Schlichter among them, escorted the crew members to seats in the fifth or sixth row, away from the cockpit.
โWe shouted at them and told them to sit down,โ said Schlichter, who has two children and two granddaughters.
The trio then enlisted a โbig guyโ to guard the cockpit and prevent anyone from entering, Manes said.
Reserve pilots seated on the back of the plane had at that point already entered the cockpit and taken over the control of the aircraft.
After the Flydubai crew was seated, they began to โunderstand that this was a special case,โ Schlichter said, and they started tending to the traumatised passengers, providing them with blankets and water.
The crew has not been accused of conspiring with the bloodthirsty co-pilot.
When asked by The Post about the crewโs behavior, Flydubai said it could not comment on a matter under investigation.
โWe remain fully committed to supporting the ongoing investigation and are in close coordination with the relevant government authorities and regulators,โ it said in a statement.
.@POTUS: They've tried to smear us, slander us, persecute us, demoralize us. They've attacked me, they've impeached me, they've arrested me, and they even tried to kill me โ but with you at my side, we have always PREVAILED.
Now, we're on the cusp of beating the communists, socialists, radicalized lunatics, and villains once and for all. We did not come all this way and defeat all those dangers only to watch our country be taken over by SICK people who HATE America.
๐จ NETANYAHU: ISRAEL WILL BECOME A โGLOBAL LEADERโ IN MARITIME WARFARE
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Ashdod naval base, praising the Israeli Navyโs growing role in defending Israelโs coastline and projecting power at sea.
Netanyahu vowed Israel will become a global leader in maritime warfare as the Navy expands its capabilities for the next generation of regional threats. ๐ฎ๐ฑโ๏ธ
@i24NEWS_EN@netanyahu
FLY DUBAI ATTACK--OMANI CO-PILOT PLANNED TO CRASH THE PLANE INTO TEL AVIV'S AZRIELI TOWERS
The Islamist co-pilot now being interrogated in the UAE together with Mossad agents and aviation experts is alleged to have intended to crash the aircraft into Tel Aviv's iconic Azrieli Towers where I once had a law office. It would have been 9-11 all over again. Once again one cannot praise enough the heroism of pilot Smit Macchar, Yaniv Hayoun and the others who saved Flight 1073 from total disaster.
๐จ๐บ๐ธ PRESIDENT TRUMP: โAll those countries that canโt get jet fuelโฆ Like the UKโฆ youโll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA wonโt be there to help you just like you werenโt there for us. Iran has been decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!โ
2002: Ilhan Omar marries husband one in a mosque. They have two kids in that marriage. They "split" in 2008.
2009: she legally marries husband two in a Christian church. No mosque would do it because apparently the muslim community knew him as her brother.
While married to him, she has her third child with husband one and files joint tax returns with husband one in 2014 and 2015.
A former friend says she told the community she needed papers so her brother could go to school.
2017: she divorces the husband/brother and remarries husband one a month later.
Sounds like fraud to me. #kalshipartner
The Labour government in Britain has declared open season on Israel - and now the Green Party is rushing to join in.
Nearly 50 years after the UNโs shameful โZionism is racismโ resolution, the UKโs Green Party is bringing it back to life. Even the UN repealed this disgrace in 1991.
Anti-Zionism is racism!!!
๐ด IRAN: A viral video from the January Uprising shows IRGC agents of the Islamic regime occupying Iran using guns with laser sights to headshot unarmed Iranian protesters in Mashhad's Park Square.
The regime doesnโt want you to see this.
So make sure you share it with the world.
๐จ Breaking - France ๐ซ๐ท
#Paris Stock Exchange taken over by Protesters.
The French are not stopping - this is the beginning of a worldwide revolution.
#France is burning in Riots๐จ๐ซ๐ท
Canadian journalist goes to Israelโฆ and the two-state dream dies on the spot. ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ
Standing on the border, she points to an Israeli military hospital treating Syrian women โ ages 8 to 80 โ who were raped by ISIS.
Then she drops the truth bomb:
โI came here believing in the two-state solution.
I really did.
Iโm at a point now where I frankly do not.โ
โThe only way this tiny piece of land stays freeโฆ is if Israelis are in control of it.โ
Because if you hand any of it to the PLO or Hamas โ
it will look exactly like Syria.
Sometimes the most powerful pro-Israel voices arenโt Israeli.
Theyโre the ones who actually showed up and opened their eyes. ๐๐ฅ