Netanyahu names and praises attacked pilot
Israeli officials are naming the pilot who was attacked mid-flight as Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s calls Machchhar a “true hero” of “extraordinary bravery”.
“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” Netanyahu writes on X.
“Today, our hearts are with him and his family,” Israel’s parliament speaker Amir Ohana also writes on X.
His name was also published by media outlets in India.