He said he directed the plane away from Tel Aviv, where the pilot had asked to land, to the sparsely populated desert area in case there was a bomb aboard. Israel Radio picked up the conversation between the pilot and air traffic controllers. “We must make a crash landing or land in Israel,” the pilot said. “We must land in Tel Aviv. We cannot proceed. Did you copy? We are low in fuel. We are a hijacked aircraft. We must make a crash landing.”