Tel Aviv [Israel], October 2 (ANI): Praising Captain Smit Machchhar for his incredible courage during the Flydubai cockpit attack by his co-pilot, former Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel stated that the Indian pilot deserves Israel's Medal of Honour for risking his own life to save over 170 passengers from an allegedly attempted crash. 

Speaking to ANI, Haskel expressed deep admiration for Machchhar's heroic actions during the mid-air emergency.

'His courage and determination have saved so many lives. He needs to be invited to Israel to receive a Medal of Honour here from our president, from our government. These are incredible deeds while he was risking his own life, keeping himself alive, so that he could actually open the door,' Haskel said.

Reflecting on Machchhar's recent telephonic interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the crisis, Haskel noted how his reliance on prayer resonated deeply with the shared spiritual values of Israelis and Indians during moments of adversity. 

'One thing that really touched me when he was speaking to your Prime Minister, and it was that during his most difficult time he made a special prayer, an Indian prayer. And you know, as Jews, when we are in a difficult time, when we are in times of need, when we need to get strength, we pray to God. You've experienced so much trauma and terrorist attacks as well, by radical Islamists. You truly understand what we've experienced, and to feel so close, understanding what both of our mentalities are. We are warm and receive strength and might from those prayers to God; it really changed something in my heart as well. And as much as I related to and loved India and the Indian people, it truly showed me how much similarity we actually have together,' she shared.

Turning to bilateral security ties, Haskel called for an immediate expansion of counter-terrorism cooperation, intelligence sharing, and defence collaboration between New Delhi and Jerusalem to counter evolving security threats.

'Oh, absolutely. Absolutely, you are spot on, and I want to strengthen that. I mean, we already have a very close relationship and tie because we understand the mutual challenges... your government has a very close relationship with ours, your security forces have a very close relationship with ours, but we need to tighten and to strengthen that even more in light of those future challenges, because that's not going to disappear,' she stated.

Haskel highlighted that democratic nations like India and Israel face an existential struggle against extremist entities driven by destruction rather than national prosperity.

'When we speak about political goals or national goals, about prosperity, about, you know, growing the economy, when you hear Prime Minister Modi speaks about what he sees as a future for India and what Prime Minister Netanyahu says he sees as a future for Israel, this is different when you speak on entities like Iran, like the Muslim Brotherhood and other ones. When they speak about a religious goal of death, destruction, conquest, and enslavement. So, you should understand that we are fighting sort of a third World War between two forces, the forces that fight for love, for life, for their people, and those who fight their religious war of death and destruction,' Haskel explained.

Emphasising the strategic necessity of deepening military and industrial partnerships, Haskel suggested that Israel should shift defence manufacturing and investments away from Western nations imposing sanctions toward steadfast allies like India.

'There is so much more cooperation in deepening a lot of our ties, including specific military equipment, factories, intelligence... Just two weeks ago, the Prime Minister of the UK put more sanctions on Israelis and on Israelis businesses. And I said out clearly... we need to maybe rethink our strategy and pull out a lot of the industry, the security industry, and try and invest that and build those factories and those companies in friendlier countries, countries that we can rely on and countries that we know will stand beside us, and I truly see India as one of our greatest allies, absolutely,' she added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke to Captain Smit Machchhar, the pilot whose heroics in thwarting off an attack from his co-pilot saved 180 lives on a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, through a video call and praised his courage, presence of mind and composure

The Prime Minister said the entire country was praying for Captain Machchhar. During the call, the Captain became emotional and said it was a very special moment for him to speak with the Prime Minister.

The PM began by asking Capt Machchhar,' How are you? How's your health now?' with the Captain replying, 'Everything is fine, sir. Everything is fine.'

Speaking to the PM, Machchhar recalled the moments after he collapsed to the floor following the attack and said his 17 years of flying experience helped him realise that the aircraft was going down.

"When I was down on the floor, I sensed that the aircraft was going down. And I knew for sure: 'This is the one last push, Smit. Just do it. The door is right there.' Even as blows were still landing on me, I just managed to open it, sir. Then everyone else arrived. The others also played an equal role in this," Machchhar told the Prime Minister.

The Captain said that while he was consciously telling himself that he was acting for his own survival, he knew deep down that he could not allow the passengers to die. Machchhar also told PM Modi that he had been flying aircraft for 17 years and had served as a captain for the last 11 years.

Machchhar also expressed confidence about his recovery, saying, "I am thinking of it as a journey that will happen slowly. And it will take time, but I am very, very confident that I will recover. And I will be completely healthy.' (ANI)