Yaniv Hayoun had a direct message for Donald Trump when he met Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
“Tell Trump that I love him,” the Israeli plumber asked the prime minister during their embrace in Netanyahu’s office, still wearing the blood-soaked clothes from the flight. The 44-year-old had helped subdue a co-pilot who allegedly tried to crash a flydubai jet bound for Tel Aviv the previous day.
Trump had already hailed Hayoun as a hero from the Oval Office on Wednesday. “An Israeli plumber, never flew a plane, was rarely in planes, very rarely flew,” the president told reporters. “And he saw what was going on and he heard the screaming…he ripped this guy out of the seat, threw him back, the crowd got him, the passengers got him.”
The co-pilot, described as an Omani native, is now under investigation with authorities probing any terrorism connection. An Israeli official told the Times of Israel that the staffer’s social media history pointed toward a clear ideological motive. “His social media accounts [say] clearly that he has been radicalized into jihadist ideology,” the official said.
Netanyahu echoed that assessment during a “Fox and Friends” appearance, stating the co-pilot “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination before carrying out the cockpit attack.” The prime minister added his own analysis of the staffer’s intent: “It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane. The Islamist tendencies, that radicalization [that was] found in his background, I think that’s … a pretty good clue.”
The flight eventually landed safely in Saudi Arabia thanks to two off-duty pilots who took control. How the Omani national came to work the Tel Aviv-bound route remains unclear, given that Oman maintains no diplomatic relations with Israel. The plane’s destination and the alleged attacker’s background have intensified scrutiny of whether antisemitism drove the incident, particularly after reports that the co-pilot had mused about killing Jews online.
Hayoun was among several passengers who responded when chaos erupted in the cockpit on Wednesday. He put the co-pilot in a headlock and dragged him out of the cockpit, allowing others to restrain him fully. The plumber’s actions, combined with the intervention of the off-duty pilots, prevented what authorities believe could have been a catastrophic crash.
Trump has since linked the incident to Iran without presenting evidence. “Based on what I’m hearing,” the president said when connecting Tehran to the failed attack, vowing to hit Iran “very hard” if the connection is proven.
Netanyahu continues to face questions about airline security screening as the investigation into the co-pilot’s radicalization timeline proceeds.