“I see a lion”, Netanyahu meets the passenger who intervened during the plane incident (VIDEO)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met the passenger Yoniv, who helped neutralise the co-pilot from Oman suspected of trying to bring down a Flydubai plane with around 180 people on board.

During the meeting, Yoniv was still wearing the blood-covered shirt he had on when he intervened to stop the co-pilot during the incident on the plane.

Netanyahu praised the passenger for his action, calling him a hero.

“Yoniv, you are a true hero. I look at you and I see a lion. I see a great hero,” Netanyahu told him.

The passenger replied: “We are a nation of lions, are we not? Am k’lavi”.

Yoniv said the incident happened around one hour and 10 minutes before the plane’s scheduled landing time in Israel.

According to the Israeli prime minister, the passenger’s intervention may have saved not only everyone on board the plane, but may also have prevented a greater catastrophe if the plane had managed to enter Israel’s airspace.

The exact motive of the incident remains under investigation.

יניב, אתה גיבור אמיתי. אנחנו עם של אריות! pic.twitter.com/55AgmAvzIG