Tel Aviv, Oct 1 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson David Mencer said on Thursday that people of Israel are "extremely grateful" and have a "huge amount of respect" for Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar who saved the lives of 174 passengers on board flydubai flight with his ultimate act of bravery.
In an exclusive interview with IANS, Mencer said that Netanyahu, after getting the information about the Flydubai flight FZ1073 incident, convened a meeting of the heads of Israeli security agencies and got an assessment about the situation.
"This was an early morning flight from Dubai to Israel. As soon as the evidence was presented to the Prime Minister, he immediately convened the heads of our security services to get an assessment of what was going on. We were monitoring the situation very closely. Certain other measures were also taken, which I cannot share with you. But thankfully, it was the bravery of the Israelis on board, together with the most remarkable Indian pilot, which managed to allow us to have a happy conversation this morning, rather than talking about 170 people being killed in the deserts of Arabia. That would have been absolutely catastrophic," said Mencer.
"We are extremely grateful not only to our Israeli heroes, but to that Indian pilot, that did so much even though he was being attacked to use his leg to open the cockpit door, to allow the plane to be wrestled out of the Omani pilot's control and allow that plane to be landed safely," he added.
During the incident, Captain Machchhar was stabbed by his co-pilot and the aircraft began to plummet. The Indian pilot fought the assailant bravely and opened the cockpit door, following which passengers rushed to assist, entered the cockpit and overpowered the attacker. Once the attacker was subdued, the seriously wounded Indian pilot was stabilised until the aircraft made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Mencer stated that Machchhar is recovering in the hospital and mentioned that he was present with PM Netanyahu when he heard the details on how the Indian pilot saved the aircraft.
"He (Benjamin Netanyahu) immediately turned to his Cabinet Secretary and said that we need to honour this man (Captain Smit Machchhar). This incident happened only yesterday, but Israel is very much considering what measures it will take to honour the man that did so much to save 170 lives yesterday. We could have been having a very different conversation this morning. But it was down to the bravery of the Israelis and that pilot, who was able to open that cockpit door and save the aeroplane."
He noted that India and Israel share a close bond and friendship and mentioned how many young people in Israel, after completing their national service in the military, travel to India. He also emphasised the close bond shared between PM Modi and Netanyahu.
"All of us here in Israel are taking our hats off to this amazing Indian pilot. There is a famous Jewish saying that a person that saves just one person is considered as having saved an entire world, and all of us here in Israel have such thankfulness and gratitude to this Indian pilot. There is already a very close relationship between India and Israel. There is a close friendship and bond between our two countries. Many of our young people, after completing their national service in the military or security services, go to India...There is a huge amount of warmth for India not only between our Prime Ministers," emphasised Mencer.
"Our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are extremely close. All of us in Israel, when you say these two names, we just think of the two of them with their shoes off in the Mediterranean talking about the future of the relationship between our two great countries. There is a lot of love between our two countries, and this is a wonderful symbol of that love. We have huge amount of respect for that Indian pilot. As I mentioned earlier, the Prime Minister is looking at ways to honour that pilot because of his brave actions, 170 people were saved," he added.
Mencer mentioned that people of Israel love the people of India and their kindness. He also highlighted that India has no history of state antisemitism.
"The closeness between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I can tell you they have regular phone calls and there is regular contact. And of course, Israeli military know-how that is helping to protect India from its enemies. You too in India face Islamofascist enemies that are trying to harm your country, and Israel is very much involved in making sure that India has the tools it needs to defend itself and vice versa. India also provides many benefits to the state of Israel. So, there's a real love and a real affection between our two countries. And that's where we're very, very proud of that."