Assaf Rajuan, one of the Israelis who helped subdue a flydubai copilot who allegedly sought to hijack and crash a plane full of Israelis, on his return to Ben Gurion Airport on September 30, 2026. (Channel 12 screenshot)
Assaf Rajuan, another of the three Israelis who helped subdue the copilot aboard the flydubai plane this morning, says they “decided it was a case of to be or not to be.”
He says he was injured in the incident “but not too badly.”
Speaking to Channel 12 news on his return to Ben Gurion Airport, he says passengers heard shouting from the cockpit, and the plane spiralled out of control. The cockpit door was open and he and the two other Israelis went in, together with members of the crew, and overcame the copilot. He praises the plane’s captain and the two off-duty pilots on board who subsequently managed to stabilize the plane.
“We kept the terrorist neutralized for 55 minutes,” Rajuan adds, “and we landed safely.”
He says passengers were extremely reluctant to board another flydubai plane for the journey home, and did “not get clear answers” from Israeli authorities. They asked that the plane be delayed while checks were carried out on the second plane’s crew, and this is what happened.
He says he is “in shock — I can’t believe I was in Thailand a few hours ago… on a family vacation.”
Assaf Rajuan, one of the Israelis who helped subdue a flydubai copilot who allegedly sought to hijack and crash a plane full of Israelis, on his return to Ben Gurion Airport (left), and on the plane during the incident (right), on September 30, 2026. (Channel 12 screenshot)
“I thank God… and everybody who helped” enable them to survive the incident, Rajuan says, stressing that it was not him alone who did so.
“Life is stronger than everything, and we decided to fight for it,” he says. “It’s hard for me to believe that it ended the way it did… I’m very happy to be here.”
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