Saudi medic’s care for passenger goes viral after flight diversion

AFP | Riyadh

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A video showing a Saudi healthcare worker in a black niqab examining a woman in a tank top from an Israel-bound flight that was diverted to the kingdom has gone viral after being published by Saudi media and shared online.

The flight, heading to Tel Aviv from Dubai, was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk after one of the pilots allegedly tried to crash the plane and kill everyone on board.

In the footage, including images broadcast by Saudi channel Al-Arabiya, the healthcare worker takes the passenger’s blood pressure as she sits in a chair before exchanging a few words with her.

The vast majority of the 174 people onboard the flight are believed to have been Israeli.

“Medicine knows neither nationality nor politics. Treating someone does not mean approving of them; it is a humanitarian duty. Human life comes first,” one user commented on X under a post online.

The footage is all the more striking given the lack of diplomatic ties between the kingdom and Israel, with citizens from the two countries rarely coming into contact with each other.

The video has drawn mixed reactions among a Saudi population that remains largely supportive of the Palestinian cause.

“The generosity was misplaced,” wrote one reader under a post by Al-Arabiya.

Photos sent to AFP after the plane landed in Tabuk showed passengers, including children, gathered in an airport room, with some sitting on the floor. One man was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans stained with blood.

Passenger Almog Italie said the group received a “very warm” welcome after touching down in Tabuk.

Arab News also highlighted the reception, running a headline featuring a passenger’s account of Saudi hospitality.

Saudi Arabia, however, rejected several Israeli requests to send aircraft to repatriate the passengers, a Saudi source familiar with the matter told AFP on Thursday.

“They asked to send military warplanes. Two or three direct to Tabuk airport,” the source told AFP. “Turned down.”

“Then asked to send [El Al] commercial one. Turned down as well.”

The source also told AFP the message was communicated through the UAE and not directly with the Israelis, and rejected any notion that the incident could lead to a rapprochement between the two states.

There are no direct flights between Israel and Saudi Arabia, although the kingdom has allowed aircraft travelling to or from Israel to cross its airspace since 2022.

Riyadh has maintained that it will not normalise relations with Israel without a clear path to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “in constant contact” with Saudi authorities, who he said were questioning the co-pilot.

Saudi authorities have not publicly commented on the circumstances of the incident.