Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Captain Smit Machchhar and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to light a torch at Israel\u2019s next Independence Day ceremony during a video call with the pilot, who helped save passengers after his co-pilot attacked him and sent their Tel Aviv-bound Flydubai plane into a dive.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaptain, I want to invite you and my dear friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to light a celebratory flame on our next Independence Day,\u201d Netanyahu told Machchhar.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu said the honor was usually reserved for Israeli citizens, but that Israelis would embrace the captain\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are a true hero of the brave peoples of India and Israel, and you are a hero of the entire world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
During the conversation, Machchhar described how the co-pilot attacked him in the cockpit and how he managed to open the door despite his injuries, allowing those outside to intervene.<\/p>\n
FlyDubai hijack attempt: What was the terrorist’s motive? <\/p>\n
Machchhar said the co-pilot had wanted to pray. Out of respect, he looked toward the front of the cockpit rather than behind him. Several minutes later, he felt a powerful blow to the back of his head.<\/p>\n
He initially thought the aircraft had suffered catastrophic damage, but realized he was being attacked as the blows continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s when I realized that it\u2019s not the aircraft, it\u2019s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Captain Smit Machchhar, stabbed by Omani co-pilot, recovers from terror attack in Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n
Machchhar said his vision was badly impaired and he felt the aircraft descending sharply. He managed to open the cockpit door once, but the attacker shut it again.<\/p>\n
Lying on the cockpit floor, he heard a whooshing sound and people screaming.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had that one last fight left in me,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I don\u2019t do it, I\u2019m going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Machchhar said he pushed himself toward the door, reached its handle and twisted it open. People waiting outside were then able to intervene.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu praised the captain\u2019s courage and \u201ccoolness of judgment under impossible conditions,\u201d saying both the pilot and the passengers had helped avert disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou saved the day. You saved so many souls,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Investigations underway into how an Omani national became the co-pilot of an Israel-bound flight<\/p>\n
Netanyahu wished Machchhar a full recovery and reiterated the invitation before ending the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to see you very soon in Israel,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this will be a memorable and historic visit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Captain Smit Machchhar and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to light a torch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-635542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635542","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=635542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}