Middle East Insider · Issue 056 · Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Eight Hours in Tabuk

Good evening. A co-pilot stabbed his captain on this morning’s flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, and the plane landed in Saudi Arabia; this edition opens there. Then the talks, the strait, Iraq, Riyadh, and an accusation from London.

A co-pilot stabbed his captain over Saudi Arabia. The passengers, nearly all Israelis, spent eight hours in Tabuk.

Flydubai flight 1073 left Dubai for Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning with more than 170 people aboard, nearly all of them Israelis. About two and a half hours later the co-pilot stabbed the captain, and the jet, Reuters reported, fell nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds. Passengers and crew got into the cockpit and overpowered him; a second flydubai crew on board landed at Tabuk, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, at 9:45 a.m. (Reuters, AP).

The captain, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, opened the cockpit door after he was stabbed; he is in stable condition in a Saudi hospital. Defense Minister Israel Katz called it an “attempted jihadist terror attack” (BBC). An Israeli official identified the co-pilot as an Omani national, and Netanyahu said the Saudis arrested him and are interrogating him; the airline said the motive is unknown and warned against “premature speculation” (Reuters, AP). The President, after speaking with Netanyahu: “They said he wanted to crash. They don’t know that” (JPost).

Saudi Arabia has no diplomatic relations with Israel. A person who heard the radio traffic told the AP that Saudi and Jordanian controllers first turned the plane away (AP). On the ground, passengers said, the Saudis gave them food and medical care; one called them “really amazing and generous” (Times of Israel). Riyadh refused an Israeli request to send military transports, two security sources told Reuters, and the passengers left at 5:40 p.m. on a second flydubai aircraft (Reuters, The National).

Netanyahu spoke with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed on Wednesday evening, and flydubai suspended its flights to Israel (Times of Israel). Netanyahu’s spokesman said Israel will check every pilot who flies in: “we are going to know the pilots’ identities” (Reuters).

The incident became an election argument within hours. Netanyahu had said on Tuesday that there were signs “our enemies will try to attack us” before the October 27 vote (JPost). Yair Lapid, whom he briefed that night, said “nothing that even resembles this morning’s plane incident” came up (The National). Channel 12 reported that Israel believes the co-pilot acted alone, with no sign of Iranian direction (Times of Israel).

On Wednesday a Saudi airport took in more than 160 Israelis, a Saudi hospital treated the captain, and the passengers were in Tel Aviv by evening. Netanyahu says the Saudis hold the suspect; Reuters reports that they refused Israeli military aircraft. That is the relationship as it stands, without recognition: help in an emergency, and no Israeli military presence on Saudi soil. Washington, which wants Riyadh in the Abraham Accords, saw both halves in one day. The interrogation is Riyadh’s, and Israel will learn the motive when the Saudis share it.

MEF Observer, Iran Seeks Revenge for Killing of Khamenei (Sept 30): Shay Khatiri on Tehran’s policy of avenging Ali Khamenei, and why any agreement to end the war should require Iran to renounce it.

MEF Online, Boston Public Schools Employs Farrakhan Supporter Who Lost Job with District Attorney (Sept 30): Dexter Van Zile on True-See Allah, who left the Suffolk County district attorney’s office in 2024 after praising Louis Farrakhan and has worked for Boston’s schools since.

Focus on Western Islamism, Meloni Government’s Sweeping Ban on Burqas and Niqabs from Schools Provokes Islamists (Sept 30): Jules Gomes on Italy’s September 24 decree banning face coverings in schools, the imams who support it, and the objection from CAIR.

Focus on Western Islamism, Jihadi Car Attacker Filmed Four Terror Videos 48 Hours Before Deadly Strike (Sept 30): Gomes on Salim El Koudri, who recorded himself saying “Italy must be destroyed” before he drove into pedestrians in Modena on May 16.

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Washington’s answer in Tehran, three ships hit in the strait, the militias’ reply in Iraq, and the crown prince’s warning.

The talks. Abbas Araghchi gave Iran’s cabinet Washington’s reply on Wednesday, and Masoud Pezeshkian said the agreement “must now be based on a win-win strategy” (AP). An official briefed on the talks told Reuters the two sides differ on the order of the steps, not the steps (Reuters). The President, in the Oval Office: “the time has come. It’s going to end very soon” (Times of Israel).

The strait. Britain’s maritime trade office, UKMTO, reported two tankers and a gas carrier struck by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday; Argus puts the office’s total there since early July at 42 (Argus). The Revolutionary Guards’ spokesman said his forces target ships there and that the United States has not responded for some time (Iran International). Brent for December, the most-active contract, settled at $98.03, up 1.9 percent; JPMorgan put Middle East crude exports at 98 percent of the pre-war level (Bloomberg).

Iraq. The last American forces left Erbil Air Base on Wednesday, Central Command said. Trump called the withdrawal “a victory for the United States” and “a decisive victory over ISIS” (The Hill). Ali al-Zaidi, in a televised address, called for “one weapon in the hands of the state”; the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said the same day that it is “not bound by any timeline or agreement” (Rudaw). Ashab al-Kahf said “any foreign presence, whether on land or in the air, will face a military response” (The National).

Riyadh. Mohammed bin Salman, opening the Shura Council, said the kingdom “will not hesitate to respond firmly to any threat or attack” on its security, and named “the terrorist Houthi militias, which have chosen chaos and destruction” (Asharq Al-Awsat). In Rome on Tuesday, Pakistan’s defense minister said “whatever means are available at our disposal, they’ll be available to Saudi Arabia also” (AP). Yemen’s National Defense Council this week approved measures for a general mobilization against the Houthis (Asharq Al-Awsat).

Fairford. Britain’s prime minister, Andy Burnham, told the BBC there are “strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford,” the base American bombers use in the war (AFP, The Hill). Police arrested five British men near the base on Sunday, found gasoline and no explosives in three vans, and released them on bail (Iran International). Araghchi answered that Burnham was “barking up the wrong tree” (AFP).

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