Yaniv Hayoun, the plumber hailed for helping thwart a flydubai co-pilot’s alleged attempt to bring down an Israel-bound aircraft, had a heartfelt message for his own hero: President Donald Trump.
“Tell Trump that I love him,” Hayoun told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an emotional embrace at the prime minister’s office Thursday. The passenger was still wearing clothes stained with blood.
Hayoun was among the passengers who subdued the Omani-born co-pilot aboard Wednesday’s flight to Tel Aviv. He reportedly placed the man in a headlock and pulled him from the cockpit as panic spread through the cabin.
His remarks came after Trump publicly praised Hayoun’s courage and described him as a hero.
“An Israeli plumber, never flew a plane, was rarely in planes, very rarely flew,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday.
“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.”
An investigation into the co-pilot’s motive remains underway, including a probe into whether the incident was connected to terrorism.
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An Israeli official has claimed that the co-pilot had posted online about killing Jews, intensifying concerns that antisemitic beliefs may have played a role in the alleged cockpit attack.
“His social media accounts [say] clearly that he has been radicalized into jihadist ideology,” the official told the Times of Israel.
Netanyahu said the co-pilot had “undergone Islamist radical indoctrination” before allegedly carrying out the cockpit attack.
“It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane,” Netanyahu told “Fox and Friends.”
“The Islamist tendencies, that radicalization [that was] found in his background, I think that’s … a pretty good clue,” he said.
It remains unclear how the co-pilot was able to obtain the position. The aircraft was ultimately brought down safely in Saudi Arabia by two off-duty pilots, while Oman has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
