Passenger Yaniv Hayun, who was later greeted and described as a hero by Netanyahu, said in a video released by the prime minister’s office that he and others were trying to open the cockpit door, but the stabbed pilot was very close to it. Before the pilot collapsed, the injured man managed to open the door, Hayun said. He said that inside, the attacker was “trying to destroy the instruments to disable the plane.” Hayun then described how he strangled the attacker and pulled him out of the cabin before other passengers helped restrain him. He added that he “pulled the controls” of the plane and explained to Netanyahu that he watches the Canadian documentary series Air Crash Investigation. “The plane started to level out, a little more, and then [another] The pilot told me he would take control from there.” Zvika Meness, another passenger, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan News that he and other passengers tied up the attacker “with their own zip ties and with multimedia headphones.” “There are children and families here who have gone through a very serious and highly traumatic event,” she added. Yasmin Abukasis told Reuters that her daughter, who was on the flight, said that a man holding a knife had forced one of the pilots to the ground, with blood on his face. everywhere. “The plane started to lose control. Then all the people scream, they think they are leaving,” Abukasis told the AP news agency. Speaking from Ben Gurion Airport, she said her daughter called her to say she heard screams when a pilot called for help, adding that two other pilots took control of the plane while other passengers ran toward a man who had a knife. Almog Itali, who was also on board the flight, told media that one of the pilots who landed the plane was British. The other pilot was European, Itali said, although he did not provide a specific nationality. One passenger described the “very stressful” moment when people realized the plane was descending. “We understood that the pilots lost control,” he told the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom. “There are people here with their shirts covered in blood,” he said, adding: “We are fine now and we want to go home.”
