In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening, Machchhar said that the copilot told him mid-flight that he needed to step aside to pray. The pilot said he didn’t consider the request unusual, since observant Muslims pray five times a day. But after a few minutes, Machchhar felt a strong blow to the back of his head.
“My first thought was that there was a catastrophic damage to the aircraft,” Machchhar said in a video released by Netanyahu’s office. “But then after that, the blows kept coming – one after the other. And that’s when I realized that it’s not the aircraft, it’s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me.”
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Machchhar told Netanyahu that he had opened the cockpit door once but believes the copilot closed it. Machchhar managed to wrest it open again, which allowed the passengers to flood in and subdue the attacker.
“I was doing this for my life,” Machchhar told Modi, “but at the same time, I knew that I couldn’t let everybody else die.”