Prime Minister's Office spokesperson Spielman says there is "a strong opinion" on the incident's classification, "but we can't be sure until we debrief everybody"
Prime Minister’s Office of IsraelSpokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office of Israel, speaking to NBC News
NBC News reported that Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for Israel's Prime Minister's Office, said "there is a strong opinion" that the incident aboard flydubai flight FZ1073 was a terror attack (NBC's paraphrase), "but we can't be sure until we debrief everybody." NBC did not give the time of the remark.
“there is a strong opinion ... but we can’t be sure until we debrief everybody.”
Reporting
Reporting
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Did a flydubai pilot try to crash Israel-bound flight FZ1073?
On September 30, 2026, flydubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, dropped sharply in altitude en route, transmitted emergency transponder codes and landed at Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. flydubai said an altercation occurred in the flight deck, and the Tabuk airport said both pilots were taken to hospital. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one pilot stabbed the other and "apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board," and Defense Minister Israel Katz called the incident "an attempted jihadist terrorist attack." flydubai said the reasons and motives were unknown and subject to a formal investigation. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority and Saudi Arabia's National Transport Safety Center opened investigations. As of September 30, 2026, no investigating authority had reported findings, and we did not locate a public report that anyone had been charged. The disputed claim is whether a pilot deliberately tried to crash the aircraft.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
NBC News report, first published 4:56 a.m. EDT and updated through the day. It gives no time for Spielman's remark. The classification of the incident in the paragraph is NBC's paraphrase, and only the quoted fragments are Spielman's words. The linked archive copy was captured at 13:53 UTC, before the paragraphs cited here were added.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Newsweek's early report, updated at 7:42 a.m. EDT, quoting what Spielman told Reuters around the time the plane landed.
Reporting
About this source
Later Reuters report, republished by Yahoo. It attributes the Omani-national identification to an Israeli official and says there was no immediate comment from Oman.
Before the quotation
Around the time the plane landed, Spielman told Reuters the incident was not believed to have been a hijacking but a "different incident," Newsweek reported. NBC's report was first published at 4:56 a.m. EDT and updated through the day, and it does not say when Spielman spoke to NBC. By 13:40 UTC Defense Minister Katz had called the incident an attempted "jihadist terrorist attack."
After the quotation
Spielman told Reuters that Israel would identify and run security checks on every pilot flying into Israel. Reuters reported that a Netanyahu spokesperson, not named in that passage, said the wounded captain clicked the release to open the cockpit door and that passengers who entered found the co-pilot bashing at the plane's control panel.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether a pilot deliberately tried to crash FZ1073. As NBC reports it, Spielman described a prevailing view that the incident was a terror attack, which implies deliberate intent, and made the conclusion depend on debriefing everyone. NBC's report does not show that he spoke specifically about a crash attempt, so this label is narrower than the Condemned labels we gave Katz and Netanyahu. We used Mixed or conditional because an express condition qualifies the view.
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UAE aviation regulator calls FZ1073 a "security incident" under investigation and urges the public not to pre-empt the findings
General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates
“a security incident involving flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv has been brought under control ... its investigation teams, in coordination with the relevant authorities, are working to establish the cause and circumstances of the incident, including a review of operational and security aspects.”Read statement
Cite this record
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- Prime Minister's Office spokesperson Spielman says there is "a strong opinion" on the incident's classification, "but we can't be sure until we debrief everybody"
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The Dispute Index. "Prime Minister's Office spokesperson Spielman says there is "a strong opinion" on the incident's classification, "but we can't be sure until we debrief everybody"". First published: 2026-09-30. Last updated: 2026-09-30. https://disputeindex.com/events/3856-nbc-news-reported-that-doron-spielman-a-spokesperson