NEW DELHI: Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Thursday said the person involved in the cockpit incident aboard a flydubai flight had planned to crash the aircraft and kill the Israelis on board, as Transportation Minister Miri Regev called for the suspension of all flydubai flights to Israel following the incident.
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Thanking the passengers who intervened during the incident, Ben-Gvir said Israel's security approach needed to be strengthened and described the person under investigation as a "terrorist".
"The naive notion that our enemies value life and that we should have mercy on them received another reminder this morning in the form of a terrorist who planned to crash a plane and murder the 180 Israelis on board," Ben-Gvir said on X.
"Terrorism is a devil with which no agreement should ever be reached except for its defeat and erasure from the face of the earth," he said, adding that Israel must continue until achieving what he called "total victory" in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and Judea and Samaria.
Regev, meanwhile, has demanded that all flydubai flights to Israel be suspended following the incident aboard a flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media reports.
She has also asked Israel's Civil Aviation Authority to investigate whether the United Arab Emirates violated its aviation agreement with Israel. The agreement reportedly stipulates that only pilots holding passports from countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel may land in the country.
