A plane carrying passengers from an earlier flydubai flight that was diverted to Saudi Arabia arrives at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday in Tzafria, Israel. Earlier, their flight from the United Arab Emirates was diverted to Saudi Arabia after a violent altercation in the cockpit. A second plane was sent to Saudi Arabia to retrieve the stranded passengers and return them to Israel. Erik Marmor/Getty Images hide caption

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Erik Marmor/Getty Images

TEL AVIV, Israel, and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — One pilot stabbed another pilot on a flydubai flight headed to Tel Aviv, attempting to crash the plane of mostly Israeli passengers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

He said a passenger told him the plane "went into a spin and began to plunge," and that passenger and a crew member got into the cockpit and subdued the pilot who carried out the stabbing as he was "sabotaging the aircraft's systems."

Flydubai said in a statement that an "altercation occurred in the flight deck" of flight FZ 1073, traveling from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Tel Aviv. It said the flight crew secured the aircraft and diverted the plane to make an emergency landing at an airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. There were no reports of injuries to passengers.

Netanyahu said the Saudi authorities arrested the suspected attacker and are questioning him. Saudi Arabia did not immediately confirm the arrest, but the Saudi transportation safety authority said officials are investigating the incident.

Passengers who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia during a flight on flydubai, arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday. Ariel Schalit/AP hide caption

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Ariel Schalit/AP

A statement from Cluster2, the Saudi company that manages the country's airports, said the flight's captain and first officer, the co-pilot, were being treated for injuries in a hospital.

Flydubai airline said the motives behind the incident were unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation. The United Arab Emirates' civil aviation authority also said, through the state-run Emirates News Agency, that it is investigating the "causes and circumstances of the incident."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called it "an attempted jihadist terrorist attack," without providing details.

The passengers have since been flown from Saudi Arabia to Israel.

Passengers who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia during a flydubai flight arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday. Ariel Schalit/AP hide caption

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Ariel Schalit/AP

Itay Stern contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.