LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia turned down a request by Israel to allow its planes to bring back Israeli passengers from a flydubai flight that made an emergency landing in the kingdom, two security sources said on Wednesday.
The request was made to allow Israeli military planes to bring back Israelis from Saudi Arabia, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel, the sources said.
Saudi Arabia’s government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Israeli air force was preparing to send Super Hercules planes to pick up Israeli passengers, one of the sources said.
The passengers were set to continue their journey on flydubai aircraft, the airline said.
The co-pilot of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv tried to crash the plane after stabbing the pilot, but passengers then held him down while other pilots landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for Saudi Arabia to join the US-brokered Abraham Accords under which several Arab states established ties with Israel. The kingdom has long rejected joining the accords without a pathway toward Palestinian statehood.
A senior Saudi official on Wednesday denied reports of a meeting between Saudi and Israeli officials, after Israeli media reported that Netanyahu had met Middle Eastern officials, including a Saudi official, during his recent visit to the United Arab Emirates.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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