Israel was prepared to shoot down Flydubai Flight 1073 — despite more than 150 Israelis being aboard the aircraft — if the hijacked jet continued toward Israel and appeared poised to be used in a 9/11-style terror attack, according to stunning new details revealed Sunday.

Two Israeli sources with direct knowledge of the events told CBS News that the Israeli Air Force scrambled fighter jets and activated a long-established emergency protocol after the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv Boeing 737 MAX suddenly plunged and Israeli authorities were unable to establish contact with its cockpit.

The disclosure provides the clearest picture yet of just how close the September 30 incident came to forcing Israel’s leadership into an almost unimaginable decision: whether to destroy a passenger aircraft filled overwhelmingly with Israelis in order to prevent it from being deliberately crashed into Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv or another major target.

According to CBS News, after Flight 1073 made its terrifying plunge, the IAF attempted to contact the cockpit but received no response. A pre-established emergency committee was immediately activated, a command center was opened, Israeli fighter jets were scrambled and Israeli airspace was closed.

Separate reporting on the IAF response said an Air Force officer first detected a distress signal at approximately 8:30 a.m. while the aircraft was between Saudi Arabia and Jordan and apparently headed toward Tel Aviv. What initially appeared to be a relatively routine aviation emergency changed dramatically when another signal indicated possible hijacking.

Flight-tracking data showed that the aircraft initially transmitted squawk code 7700, the international code for a general emergency, and later transmitted 7500 — the code specifically used to signal hijacking or unlawful interference.

The aircraft then plunged with extraordinary speed. Reuters reported that Flight 1073 lost roughly 16,000 feet in about 30 seconds. An aviation simulator expert who recreated the descent for Reuters described what passengers would have experienced as similar to a “vertical roller coaster,” noting that anyone not strapped in could have been lifted from their seat by the negative G-forces.

With no communication from the cockpit and the aircraft behaving erratically, Israel was preparing for the possibility that the plane had become a flying weapon.

According to the Israeli sources cited by CBS, had Flight 1073 continued approaching Israel, IAF fighter jets would have entered Jordanian airspace to intercept and investigate it.

The Israeli pilots would first have attempted to fly close enough to establish visual contact with the cockpit and determine who was controlling the aircraft. They would then have examined the passenger cabin for signs of panic or a struggle and relayed their observations to the emergency command structure.

If Israeli authorities concluded that terrorists controlled the aircraft, were refusing communications and were continuing toward Israel, the emergency committee would have brought Defense Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into the decision-making process.

And the final decision would have rested with Netanyahu.

Under the protocol described by the Israeli sources, shooting down the aircraft was a real option. Officials considered that horrific outcome preferable to allowing a hijacked Boeing 737 to slam into Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv’s Azrieli towers or another “high-value target,” potentially killing hundreds or thousands more people on the ground.

The fighter jets ultimately never had to make the intercept.

Israeli authorities realized that Flight 1073 had turned away from Israel toward Saudi Arabia, approximately 400 miles away. Saudi Arabia scrambled its own fighter jets, and Israel recalled its aircraft.

Inside Flight 1073, meanwhile, an extraordinary battle for the aircraft was unfolding.

UAE prosecutors have formally described the incident as an attempted “terrorist attack,” saying the Omani copilot attacked the captain inside the cockpit with an emergency crash axe and attempted to seize control of the plane.

The captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar, despite suffering serious stab wounds, managed to fight his attacker long enough to unlock the cockpit door. Israeli passengers and Flydubai personnel then rushed in and subdued the copilot. Two off-duty pilots traveling aboard the aircraft subsequently helped take control of the jet, which was eventually landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

The alleged terrorist has been identified by sources familiar with the investigation as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami.

And new information emerging from the investigation indicates that the attack may have been planned long before Flight 1073 ever left Dubai.

Reuters reported Monday, citing two Israeli officials with knowledge of the investigation, that al-Hammami told UAE interrogators he had planned an attack even before Flydubai hired him. According to those officials, he applied to Flydubai after researching airlines that operated flights to Tel Aviv.

Even more chillingly, a source briefed on the investigation said al-Hammami specifically intended to crash Flight 1073 into Ben Gurion Airport.

Investigators also believe this may not have been his first opportunity to carry out the plot. The suspect had previously operated a flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year and allegedly considered hijacking and crashing that aircraft as well, but abandoned the plan. A source said he may have known someone aboard that earlier flight.

CBS News separately reported that sources said al-Hammami had previously been removed from flying duties at Oman Air after Omani authorities allegedly detected visits to radical websites. He was reportedly reassigned to an office position and subsequently left the airline. Flydubai later hired him.

Those revelations have intensified questions over how the suspect was ever permitted to operate a flight to Israel.

Netanyahu has said pilots who are citizens of countries without diplomatic relations with Israel — including Oman — are not permitted to operate flights into the country. Israel has since ordered a sweeping security review of foreign airlines flying to Israel.

The Transportation Ministry has said Flydubai had committed to carrying out required background checks on its crews, but acknowledged that its own security division did not receive the crew list for Flight 1073. Other Israeli authorities reportedly did receive passenger and crew information, raising questions about where the security screening system broke down.

The UAE has confirmed that its investigation remains underway to determine the attacker’s motives and whether he had assistance or connections to others. Israeli assessments have thus far leaned toward al-Hammami acting as a lone wolf, although investigators have not closed off other possibilities.

Authorities in Australia and New Zealand are also examining the suspect’s history. Australian authorities are investigating his links to the country after sources said he studied at RMIT University in Melbourne roughly a decade ago, while New Zealand police confirmed that he had also spent time there.

The latest revelations underscore how extraordinarily narrow the margin was between the dramatic rescue that ultimately unfolded and a catastrophe unlike anything Israel had previously faced.

Had the passengers and crew not succeeded in overpowering the attacker, and had Flight 1073 continued westward toward Israel, Israeli fighter pilots could have found themselves ordered to destroy an airliner carrying more than 150 of their own citizens.

Instead, the aircraft turned toward Saudi Arabia, its passengers survived, and the nightmare decision Israeli officials were preparing to make never reached Prime Minister Netanyahu’s desk.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)