President Donald Trump declared an Israeli plumber who helped stop an attempted plane hijacking “can be my plumber” in a new video message Saturday.
Trump, 78, filmed the taped remarks in the Oval Office for his Truth Social account, praising Yaniv Hayoun as both a hero and a “Trump fan.” The president’s message came after Hayoun himself had publicly thanked Trump and voiced support for his policies in the aftermath of the harrowing mid-air incident.
“He’s an Israeli plumber. And he’s a Trump fan and I’m a fan of his – a big fan,” Trump said in the video. “He saved that flight yesterday. He did an amazing job.”
The president’s praise escalated from professional admiration to personal embrace. “He’s my kind of guy. He can be my plumber. He can be whatever he wants to be. What a job he did – he’s a hero,” Trump added.
The video incorporated footage from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s meeting with Hayoun, where the diplomat presented the Israeli with a red MAGA hat signed by Trump himself. “Thank you for saving the lives of 170 people,” Huckabee told him in a clip he posted on X Friday.
Hayoun, speaking in Hebrew during his taped comments with Huckabee, credited both chance and preparation for his ability to intervene. He spoke about the “little miracles” that positioned him and fellow passengers to wrestle control from the radicalized Omani copilot who had stabbed the pilot in an effort to crash the Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv.
The plumber revealed an unexpected source for his aviation knowledge: he learned information on how to stabilize the plane during its descent from the Smithsonian Channel’s Air Disasters program.
Hayoun directed his gratitude toward both the ambassador and the president for their broader support of Israel. “Given how much you have done for our country, I felt that the public’s gratitude toward you and President Trump, who has done so much for us, was insufficient,” he said in the video.
Then he thanked Trump directly and told him “how much we value and love you both for what you are doing for our country.”
The attempted hijacking occurred on a Flydubai flight carrying approximately 170 passengers when the Omani copilot, who had become radicalized, attacked the pilot and tried to bring down the aircraft. Hayoun and other passengers managed to subdue him and stabilize the plane during its descent, preventing what could have been a mass-casualty terror attack.