Israel just called an Indian pilot a hero after a flydubai cockpit attack

Benjamin Netanyahu just invited the pilot who saved a flydubai flight to light a torch at Israel's Independence Day ceremony.

The Israeli Prime Minister called Captain Smit Machchhar a few hours ago, on the evening of 3 October.

Machchhar was the captain of flydubai flight FZ1073. It left Dubai for Tel Aviv four days ago. About two hours in, someone attacked him in the cockpit.

So what did Netanyahu say to him? He said quote "you are a hero for Israel, India and the entire world".

Then he invited him to light a torch at Israel's Independence Day ceremony.

Machchhar told him how close it got. He described having one last fight left in him, believing he would die if he didn't act, and forcing his way to the cockpit door to get it open.

Now here's who did this to him.

The co-pilot has been identified by multiple outlets as Hamam al-Hammami, an Omani national. Oman and the airline have not officially confirmed that name themselves.

The UAE's Attorney General, Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, says the co-pilot grabbed the plane's emergency crash axe, attacked Machchhar with it, and tried to take control of the aircraft. UAE authorities are calling it an attempted terrorist operation.

Two reserve pilots on board took over and landed the plane in Tabuk, in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Machchhar and the co-pilot were later moved to Abu Dhabi once they were medically cleared.

And here's the twist. The Wall Street Journal and other outlets report that this co-pilot had already been barred from flying in Oman, over concerns about his extremist views. He was hired anyway.

So a pilot flagged as a radicalisation risk ended up alone in a cockpit with Smit Machchhar.