{"id":634390,"date":"2026-10-02T16:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T16:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/634390\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T16:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T16:50:14","slug":"uae-source-criticizes-israel-for-calling-flydubai-flights-rescue-flights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/634390\/","title":{"rendered":"UAE source criticizes Israel for calling flydubai flights ‘rescue flights’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sources close to the United Arab Emirates criticized Israeli officials for calling potential flights from the UAE to Israel \u201crescue flights<\/a>\u201d and “exploiting the attack for political purposes” after Wednesday\u2019s incident involving a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, a UAE source told The Jerusalem Post Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Israel, they are talking about \u2018rescue flights\u2019 from the Emirates. \u2018Rescue flights\u2019 is a term used for a country where it is dangerous to be. That is simply not the case,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

The source said the UAE<\/a> had agreed to Israeli requests for additional security measures following the incident and that Flydubai had also agreed to operate flights to Israel under revised procedures.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything Israel asked for, the UAE said \u2018yes,\u2019\u201d the source told the Post. \u201cFlydubai<\/a> agreed to fly to Israel under different protocols, similar to those used by Etihad, but the Israelis said \u2018no.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets ”heroes” who intervened on a flydubai flight bound to Israel from the United Arab Emirates, in Jerusalem Thursday, 1st October 2026 (credit: AMOS BEN GERSHOM\/GPO)<\/p>\n

A senior Israeli official responded to reactions from UAE officials criticizing the use of the term “rescue flights,” saying, “The return of Israelis from the UAE has never been defined as a ‘rescue operation.'”<\/p>\n

“The use of the term by private companies is not related to the state. Israelis staying in the Emirates are not stranded and do not need rescue.”<\/p>\n

UAE reactions to Israel’s handling of Flydubai incident<\/p>\n

In a separate report, Ynet cited a source close to the UAE government as saying that Israel was \u201cexploiting the attack for political purposes\u201d by delaying the return of Flydubai flights, adding that “The elections are managing the event, not logic.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are talking about \u2018rescue flights,\u2019 as if there is a war in the country,\u201d the source said, adding that the UAE was willing to tighten procedures and conduct additional checks on flight crews.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf passengers can be put on an Arkia flight, why not on a Flydubai flight?\u201d the source said, according to Ynet.<\/p>\n

The source acknowledged that \u201cit is clear that there was a malfunction,\u201d while claiming that Israel did not understand the significance of the incident for the UAE.<\/p>\n

The comments came after the co-pilot of Flydubai flight FZ1073 allegedly attacked the captain and attempted to take control of the aircraft. Passengers and crew subdued the co-pilot before a reserve Flydubai crew traveling on the aircraft landed the plane in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The Omani co-pilot was detained by Saudi authorities and later transferred to the UAE.<\/p>\n

‘Dangerous terrorist act’\u00a0<\/p>\n

UAE presidential diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash described the incident<\/a> on Friday as a \u201cdangerous terrorist act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UAE state news agency reported that Emirati authorities had opened an investigation into the incident to establish its circumstances and motives and determine whether it was connected to terrorist activity, involved prior planning, or was directed by another party.<\/p>\n

An Israeli government official told Reuters that Israeli investigators would participate in the UAE-led investigation alongside Emirati authorities to determine what happened and examine the suspect\u2019s motives and background.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sources close to the United Arab Emirates criticized Israeli officials for calling potential flights from the UAE to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1120,285901,85,46,43,78,79],"class_list":["post-634390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-dubai","tag-flydubai-attempted-hijacking","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-united-arab-emirates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}