“HEROES”

Netanyahu said he expected the United Arab Emirates to take the lead in the investigation, but that Israel would join.

“He’ll be, I assume, moved very quickly to Dubai,” Netanyahu told CBS News of the alleged attacker, who was being questioned in Saudi Arabia.

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, called it a “militant” attack, while Defence Minister Israel Katz also described the incident as “an attempted jihadist terror attack”.

Airline flydubai has said all the passengers – of whom 166 out of 174 were Israeli, according to media reports – were safe, but that the reasons for the altercation were unknown.

“During the flight, as they approached the country, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot, and apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board,” Netanyahu said in a video message.

“I salute these heroes,” he said of the passengers, adding “they prevented a major disaster”.