A Plumber, a Dentist, and a Plane Full of Israelis

Nope, not the beginning of a joke. Just reality.

And happily, the list of heroes was longer than the title. There were a few more regular citizens who jumped into action, helped subdue the attacker, and managed the situation alongside the captain and crew.

How can one not write about this flight?

You’ve probably heard the story and, like me, are still reeling. But I keep coming back to this: what can we learn?

Yesterday, flydubai Flight FZ1073, from Dubai to Tel Aviv, experienced something terrifying. According to Israeli officials, the copilot attacked the captain and tried to crash the plane with everybody on it. The Associated Press reported 174 people aboard and a drop from approximately 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet in about a minute. The motive, including whether this was a terrorist attack, is still being investigated.

This is the plot of a movie. Except it isn’t fiction.

The captain himself, Smit Machchhar, showed incredible courage. Seriously wounded, he reportedly managed to open the cockpit door before losing consciousness, allowing people to get in and help. Passengers, including dentist Shota Musayev, then provided first aid. Think about that: fighting for your own life and still finding the strength to give everyone else a chance.

Then a plumber, Yaniv Hayoun, and other passengers helped overpower the attacker. Additional flydubai crew members took control and ultimately landed the plane safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Everybody survived.

A plumber. A dentist. Other regular citizens, all suddenly doing something extraordinary. You almost want to ask: in Israel, does becoming a plumber come with this kind of training?

But really, what is remarkable is that people understood right away the sense of responsibility and sprinted into action.

Of course, it brings to mind United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11. The passengers and crew fought back, and the hijackers crashed the plane before reaching their intended target. Those people did not survive. Their courage deserves to be remembered.

Thankfully, in this flight, things were different. And for me, God was a partner in it all—in the people who were there, the skills they brought, and the opportunity to act.

That’s the takeaway that stays with me. People are sitting on a flight, coming back from vacation, and in the blink of a moment they jump into action for survival.

To me, that says something about the Israeli spirit. A resilience born out of thousands of years of persecution and the understanding that you cannot always wait for someone else to protect you. If something needs to be done, then do it.

If you go to Israel and visit, you can feel that ingrained spirit. Within Hatikvah, within the hope, there is also that determination. Once we were given the chance, nothing else was left to chance, so to speak.

Our ancestors, our grandparents, and the people nowadays have worked hard to move the country forward—in science, culture, medicine, technology, and inventions. Almost like an unstoppable force to bring light to the world.

I don’t want to deviate too much from the story. But I do want to make sure we learn something.

And there is another part of this story that matters. They landed in Saudi Arabia, perhaps unsure of what to expect, and passengers described being welcomed warmly and given medical attention, food, and help. That, too, is something to take away from this.

But as incredible as this Rambo-like experience was, we can’t count on it. We really can’t.

We can’t count on a plumber being willing and able to rush into the cockpit, other passengers jumping into action, and additional pilots being there to land the plane. The next step has to be serious security precautions. A plane carrying Israelis could be a target. It shouldn’t be, of course. But that is something we have to take seriously.

And yes, it is hard sometimes to always be on alert. To always be “on.” Sometimes you want to take a vacation from the stressful experience of constantly having your guard up.

I get it. I really do.

But for us to travel around the world safely, we also have to pay attention to what the variables are. The Abraham Accords and peaceful exchanges matter, but we have to remember that perhaps not everyone feels the same way.

People should live their lives and visit the places they want to visit. Having said that, do your homework. Know where you’re going, what you should expect, and what you could be facing.

Perhaps one day it will change. For now, this is what we’re working with.

And I hope that people, whatever they feel about Jews, Israel, or Palestine, can look at this and ask: when is something too far? Nothing justifies trying to kill a plane full of innocent people.

The investigation still has to establish this attacker’s motives and whether anyone else was involved. But the larger danger of extremist terrorist groups should concern good people everywhere. We should not have to wait until it is knocking on our own doors to understand that.

I feel that, as we go through life, we should ask what we can learn. Otherwise, if we go through things and learn absolutely nothing, then we’ve missed the opportunity.

For now, I remain simply in awe and in gratitude. Grateful for the captain, the crew, the regular citizens who acted, and the people who helped them on the ground.

And still reflecting on that lion spirit the Jewish people have. The will to live, the responsibility for one another, and the ability to do something extraordinary when the moment demands it.

It’s nothing short of remarkable.