Latest on FlyDubai cockpit stabbing

So right off the top of that breaking news, Israel's defense minister says a scare in the skies happened because of this, an attempted hijacking. Those terrifying moments happened aboard a commercial plane, reportedly full of Israeli citizens, traveling from Dubai to Israel. And we're just now starting to see photos and video from inside those terrifying moments. The flight made an emergency landing after a stabbing inside the cockpit. Suddenly, the aircraft dropped massive-- like a massive turbulence for 20, 30 seconds, then balanced, and then once again dropped for 10 seconds and balanced again. And then we saw that at the front of the aircraft there was a riot. Many people rushed over there. And apparently, one pilot stabbed the other.

So those Israeli citizens getting on their phones and starting to tell the story so the world could hear. That plane regained altitude, eventually landed safely in Saudi Arabia. The airline says they are still investigating. They encourage all parties to avoid speculation on the motives. But already the stories from inside that fuselage are pretty jaw dropping and scary. Let's talk about it. Live to CBS News national security contributor Joseph Zacks. Joseph, good to have you with us. So I guess one of my first questions, as we start to see the people getting off the plane now returned to Israel, is how could a commercial pilot go undetected as a potential terrorist? Well, that's a very good question, Reed, and thank you for having me on the show. I do think that it's important at this very early stage of the investigation to reserve judgment on exactly what happened and what the motives were, and see how this plays out. Nevertheless, this was a very serious incident and one that may have been inspired either through some jihadi motivation. It could have been sponsored by-- and here I'm doing exactly what I offered not to do. But it could have been sponsored by a country in the region. Or it could have been a mental health crisis that the co-pilot had. So time will tell exactly what happened, as well as, to answer your question, whether there needs to be a different process in place with respect to assessing and vetting pilots and/or monitoring and/or checking them prior to their entering a plane to for a flight. I think you to give pilots and crews, and justifiably so, some leeway. They do have to go through security procedures like the rest of us do, but perhaps not the full scrutiny that other passengers do. This could change in light of this event. I think it's important for our audience to get an idea of just how frequently this flight path takes off from where it took off from and goes into Tel Aviv. In fact, I have a friend who's booked to go in that very same plane, that very same route, in 10 days from now, knows that a lot of Americans, in fact, travel into Tel Aviv via, of course, Dubai. Talk to us about security measures that are in place, especially given the fact that, yes, you also have a very tense situation there in the Middle East, not the least of which added to the tension that seems to be transmitted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who does seem to want to land on a conclusion here very quickly. Well, I think it's a very good thing that there is some air transit between Dubai and Israel. I think the strength of the UAE-Israeli relationship is a very good thing and that it serves both countries well. But also it makes it somewhat vulnerable as a target because nefarious actors may view that as an area to be exploited. I've been through the Dubai airport numerous times. Their security is quite satisfactory, from my optic. But I am certain that this will-- and I would also hasten to add that normally, flights from any country going to Israel undergo-- passengers undergo a great deal more scrutiny than going to other places. But again, here the situation seems to have been where a co-pilot was involved. And so I think that there will be a look at the vetting of pilots, co-pilots, and crew members on flights to Israel, perhaps even more intensely than previously done. One would shudder to think what would have happened had this situation not been commandeered and under control there in the skies. What were the possibilities if they hadn't gotten this plane under control? Yeah, I think that it would have been a very serious event for a number of reasons. First of all, potentially a horrific loss of life. Secondly, this is coming on the heels of a very contentious Israeli election, which could have caused political backlashes, but also caused reactions because of the heightened political situation in Israel that would not be helpful at this point in time. As far as scenarios, one could envision it could have been a hijacking. It could have been an attempt to crash the plane, either with intent to simply kill the passengers on board or to undertake a 9/11-style attack, where the plane entered into Israeli airspace and would look to crash the plane into either an Israeli skyscraper or military complex or the Knesset. There are a whole number of scenarios. I think that one would have been least likely, because apparently somehow someone in the cockpit was able to squawk that the plane was under duress. So that, I think, from accounts, led the Israeli Air Force to scramble its jets and be prepared to undertake emergency procedures, should the event have deteriorated. And you've just been seeing on your screen a lot of those passengers getting off to live to tell the story. We're glad we're able to use those words, lived to tell the story of what happened there, the scare in the sky. So Joseph Zacks, to your point, much more to come as we learn more about the pilots who were involved in this and the crew who stepped forward and said, not today. Continuing breaking news coverage, once again, as passengers arrive back in Israel after a cockpit attack on a FlyDubai flight.