A Flydubai Boeing 737 operating from Dubai to Tel Aviv carried approximately 174 people. At cruising altitude (around 33,000–34,000 feet), the Omani co-pilot, Hamam al-Hammami, attacked the Indian captain, Smit Machchhar from behind after asking to pray. He used the aircraft’s standard cockpit crash axe—an emergency tool kept on the flight deck for cutting or prying in post-crash scenarios.
The assault left Machchhar seriously injured, vision impaired, and on the cockpit, floor covered in blood. The aircraft plunged more than 14,000–17,000 feet in under a minute (flight data and multiple reports confirm the rapid descent). Emergency codes were transmitted. Despite his wounds, Machchhar made a final effort, opened the cockpit door from inside, and collapsed. Passengers and crew entered, overpowered the attacker, and two off-duty (deadheading) Flydubai pilots among the passengers took control and landed the aircraft safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. All lives were saved.
Machchhar, bleeding and half-blind, still found the strength to reach the cockpit door, unlock it from the inside, and collapse. Every soul on board walked away. In India, the captain’s name is already being spoken with pride. President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, other Israeli leaders and world leaders hailed Captain Smit Machchhar for his bravery. A quiet professional who refused to die, who opened the door when the easiest thing would have been to stay down, and who saved 174 lives with that single act of will.
While Bharat Celebrates Captain Machchhar, Jamaat-e-Islami Media Brands Him a Liar
While Bharat hails Captain Smit Machchhar as the bloodied hero who opened the cockpit door and saved 174 lives after the Omani co-pilot’s crash-axe attack on Flydubai FZ1073, Jamaat-e-Islami media brands operating from Keralam calls him a liar and pushes an Israeli false-flag conspiracy. UAE’s Attorney General has confirmed it was terrorism. Flight data shows a 14,000-foot plunge. Yet Madhyamam and Media One choose “coincidences” and antisemitic tropes over the captain’s wounds, the axe, and the official record.
So, @saajims of MediaOne, the channel funded and backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami radical Islamists in Kerala, is spreading disinformation that Captain Smit Machchhar must have insulted or said something personally inappropriate to the Omani co‑pilot, thereby provoking the cockpit… https://t.co/3EdQUhC4V3 pic.twitter.com/X47nGkhBbn
— Rahul (@indicrealist) October 3, 2026
Madhyamam’s editorial framed the sequence as a “combination of many coincidences” that is “difficult to believe.” It treated survivor accounts with suspicion, floated the idea of an Israeli false-flag operation, and called for a UN-coordinated independent investigation—shifting focus away from the UAE-owned airline, UAE investigation, Omani attacker, and the clear terrorist classification by the UAE prosecutor. It targeted Israel and the United States with talk of vested interests and upcoming elections, implying the event was staged for political gain.
MediaOne’s “Out of Focus” programme and panelists including SA Ajims and Nishad Ravuthar went further in casting doubt: suggesting a mere personal/technical disagreement that escalated into a “fist fight,” questioning whether an axe could even be in the cockpit, and implying the Indian captain may have provoked the Omani co-pilot with an inappropriate remark—without a shred of evidence. This occurred after earlier disinformation (including claims the flight had crashed) and amid broader social-media false-flag talk from SDPI-aligned voices. The effect is the same: downplay the terrorist attack, shield the attacker’s intent, and redirect blame toward Israel.
Jamaat-e-Islami Media Refuses to Believe UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi
The UAE Attorney General, Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, later but soon after the incident stated explicitly that the co-pilot “attempted to carry out a terrorist act,” attacked the captain with the crash axe inside the flight deck, and tried to seize the controls. This aligns with passenger accounts, the captain Smit Machachar’s own detailed recollection (he was struck from behind, initially thought it was structural failure, then fought while the plane dived), Israeli statements, Saudi handling of the diversion, and flight-tracking data. Crash axes are standard cockpit equipment; no smuggling of an external weapon was required.
Real False Flag: When Media Tries to Reduce a Terror Attack to a ‘Personal Fight’ Between Pilots
By discarding the UAE’s official terrorist classification, the captain’s documented injuries and heroism, the crash axe, the flight-data plunge, and every independent corroboration, Madhyamam and MediaOne staged their own information operation. They give cover to the attacker, undermine an Indian captain who saved 174 lives, and recycle the antisemitic canard that Jews and Israelis orchestrate attacks on themselves.
Ironically, both Madhyamam and MediaOne worked overtime to cover up an officially declared terrorist attack on Israeli citizens. They pushed the narrative that Israel itself was behind the entire episode — what they indirectly dismissed as a “drama.” Yet while floating this claim they offered zero evidence, not even for the role of the actual attacker, Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami. Their only goal was to brand the whole incident as a fabricated operation staged for the upcoming US elections.
For them, the Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami — a terrorist in the eyes of the world — is the hero, while Indian Captain Smit Machchhar is the villain who merely played his assigned role in a plot cooked up by Israel and the United States.
Why the staged-plot theory doesn’t hold up
Think about what the false-flag theory asks you to believe. A Boeing 737 drops 14,000 to 17,000 feet in under a minute. Nobody can plan for that. Nobody can promise the plane will recover, that anyone will reach the controls in time, or that it will land at all.
What actually saved 174 people was human, and none of it could have been scripted. A captain lay bleeding on the cockpit floor and still found the strength to reach a door and open it. Passengers and crew rushed in and overpowered the attacker. Two off-duty pilots, who happened to be on board as part of routine airline staffing, took the controls and brought the plane down in Tabuk. Any agency staging this would have been gambling with the lives of its own citizens.
The theory also needs Israel to have controlled a UAE airline, an Omani co-pilot, Jordanian airspace, Saudi airport authorities, every passenger’s reaction and the UAE’s own investigation, without leaving a single verifiable trace. The editorial and panel commentary described to us suggest “coincidences” and point to the timing of elections, but critics say they offered no evidence. Elections are always coming somewhere. If every attack near one counts as a staged event, then real attackers have a ready-made alibi.
The record points the other way. Passenger accounts, flight data, the captain’s own testimony, the crash axe and the UAE Attorney-General’s explicit terrorism finding all line up. A cockpit door like this one is built to be opened from inside, and the wounded captain opened it. To say every one of those sources is lying or controlled is not scepticism. It leaves the victims doubted and the attacker’s intent unexamined.
The UAE says the co-pilot struck the captain, wielded the axe and tried to seize the controls. International news reports, citing an Israeli official and a source familiar with the investigation, says Ben Gurion Airport may have been his target. Calling this a personal quarrel or an Israeli plot ignores what investigators have established.
Why Media One faced a temporary 48-hour ban in March 2020 and a longer effective ban in 2022
In March 2020, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting prohibited its transmission for biased coverage of the Northeast Delhi riots and instigating violence. The channel’s reporting focused on attacks on places of worship of Hindu temple and community. It inciting violence, promoted communal attitudes, and violated Cable Television Networks Rules.
The more significant action came on 31 January 2022, when the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting rightly refused to renew Media One’s uplinking and downlinking licence after the Ministry of Home Affairs denied security clearance on clear national-security grounds.
Intelligence inputs highlighted the channel’s links with Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and its persistent anti-India, pro-Pakistan editorial line that repeatedly targeted key national-security measures such as the Citizenship Amendment Act, UAPA and other policies aimed at protecting India’s integrity and countering radical influences.
As a result, the channel was taken off air for a prolonged period. The Kerala High Court initially upheld the government’s decision, recognising the seriousness of the security concerns. The ban was eventually lifted by the Supreme Court in April 2023.
