Saudi Arabia turned down Israeli request to allow its planes to pick up Israeli passengers

Saudi Arabia turned down a request by Israel to allow its planes to bring ​back Israeli passengers from a flydubai flight that made ‌an emergency landing in the kingdom, two security sources said a day earlier. The request was made to allow Israeli military planes to ​bring back Israelis from Saudi Arabia, which has no ​diplomatic relations with Israel, the sources said. The Israeli air force was preparing to send ​Super Hercules planes to pick up Israeli passengers, one of the sources said. The passengers were set to continue their journey on flydubai aircraft, ​the airline said. The co-pilot of a flydubai flight from ​Dubai to Tel Aviv tried to crash the plane after stabbing ‌the ⁠pilot, but passengers then held him down while other pilots landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday. US President Donald Trump has been ​pushing for Saudi ​Arabia to ⁠join the US-brokered Abraham Accords under which several Arab states established ties with Israel. The ​kingdom has long rejected joining the accords ​without a ⁠pathway toward Palestinian statehood. A senior Saudi official a day earlier denied reports of a meeting between Saudi and Israeli officials, after ⁠Israeli media ​reported that Netanyahu had met ​Middle Eastern officials, including a Saudi official, during his recent visit to the ​United Arab Emirates.