Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this evening (Saturday) with Captain Smith Machhar, the Indian pilot of the 'Fly Dubai' flight, and invited him to light a torch on Israeli Independence Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\""You are a hero for Israel, India and the entire world," Netanyahu told Machar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the emotional conversation, the Prime Minister asked Machar how the incident began and what happened in the moments of terror - and Machar shared with him new details about the dramatic events in the cockpit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\""It was a normal flight," he said. "The co-pilot wanted to pray. It wasn't unusual, a lot of locals pray. While he was praying I looked forward and not back, out of respect I looked forward - and then after four or five minutes I got a hard blow to the back of my head. My first thought was that the plane had been catastrophically damaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\""But then the blows kept coming, one after the other. Then I realized it wasn't the plane - it was the other guy who was in the cockpit with me. I tried to stop him, but because of his first blows, my vision was almost non-existent. Everything was completely blurry. And at that point, the next feeling I had was that the plane was diving sharply downwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\""I tried to open the cockpit door once, but I think he closed it back. And at that point I remember lying on the cockpit floor and hearing people screaming. So I felt like I had one last fight left in me, a personal fight or for the people. I knew if I didn't do it - I would die. And then I pushed with all my might. I gave it everything I had, I just charged towards the door and opened it. And luckily, the people charged in and took over the plane.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Netanyahu asked how he managed to open the door, and the Indian pilot replied: "The door on the inside has a mechanism for opening by turning. From the outside, it cannot be opened, except by using a code. My colleagues on the outside tried to type in the code, but the guy wouldn't let them open it using the code. And the only way to open the door was to reach the handle, and like any other handle, just turn it. The point was to reach that point. And once my hand was on the handle, I guess I turned it and opened it.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prime minister said he wanted the Indian pilot and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to also light a torch. "This is the highest honor we give on our Independence Day. Usually it is reserved for Israeli citizens, but I think in this case all Israeli citizens will embrace you. We hope to see you very soon in Israel.".<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9 \u05d4\u05de\u05de\u05e9\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d5\u05d7\u05d7 \u05e2\u05dd \u05d8\u05d9\u05d9\u05e1 '\u05e4\u05dc\u05d9\u05d9 \u05d3\u05d5\u05d1\u05d0\u05d9' \u05e7\u05e4\u05d8\u05df \u05e1\u05de\u05d9\u05ea \u05de\u05d0\u05e6'\u05d4\u05e8, \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05ea\u05e7\u05d9\u05e4\u05ea \u05d8\u05d9\u05d9\u05e1 \u05d4\u05de\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d8\u05d9\u05e1\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05d9\u05de\u05d4 \u05de\u05d3\u05d5\u05d1\u05d0\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u2022 \u05e0\u05ea\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d4\u05d6\u05de\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05d8\u05d9\u05d9\u05e1 \u05d4\u05d0\u05de\u05d9\u05e5 \u05dc\u05d4\u05d3\u05dc\u05d9\u05e7 \u05de\u05e9\u05d5\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d7\u05d3 \u05e2\u05dd \u05e8\u05d0\u05e9 \u05de\u05de\u05e9\u05dc\u05ea \u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5 - \u05d1\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05e2\u05e6\u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc \u05de\u05d3\u05d9\u05e0\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":1064545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[379,66698,62042,6669],"class_list":["post-1064544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-24","tag-379","tag-66698","tag-62042","tag-6669"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n