Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday invited to Israel as a guest of honour the Indian captain of a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight who offered a dramatic account of how he saved the plane after being attacked.

Netanyahu said he wanted Captain Smit Machchhar and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of Israel’s key international partners, to light a flame at a national ceremony for Israel’s Independence Day next May, saying the role was usually reserved for Israeli citizens.

“You are a true hero of the brave peoples of India and Israel and you are a hero of the entire world,” Netanyahu said in a video his office released of his telephone conversation with the hospitalised captain.

UAE investigators have said that the co-pilot planned the “terrorist act” by attacking Machchhar with an axe.

Asked how the attack unfolded, Machchhar said the co-pilot had asked to take time to pray, as devout Muslims do five times a day.

“A lot of locals, they do pray, which is not out of the ordinary. While he was praying, out of respect, I was just looking at the front and not at the back,” Machchhar said.

“Suddenly after I think I would say about four to five minutes, there was a big blow to the back of my head. My first thought was that there was catastrophic damage to the aircraft and something is not right.

“But then after that the blows kept coming one after the other. That’s when I realised that it’s not the aircraft, it’s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me.”

While saying his memory was not entirely clear due to his injury, Machchhar said he managed to pull open the cockpit door “but I think he shut it back closed.”

“I had that one last fight left in me,” Machchhar explained, saying he knew he faced certain death if not.

“That’s when I pushed against everything. I gave everything that I had and just went for the door and opened the door and thankfully people were waiting.”