Anwar Gargash, an adviser to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, on Friday described the attempted crashing of a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv earlier in the week as an “act of terrorism,” becoming the first senior Emirati official to publicly characterize the incident in those terms, according to Times of Israel. 

In a post on X, Gargash praised Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, who was stabbed several times by his Omani copilot as part of the latter’s alleged attempt to crash the plane. Machchhar still managed to open the cockpit door, allowing three Israeli passengers to rush in and subdue the attack before off-duty airmen — who happened to be on the plane — were able to conduct an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.