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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says an Omani co-pilot accused of trying to crash a flydubai flight to Israel had undergone Islamist radical indoctrination. The co-pilot was subdued by passengers and arrested in Saudi Arabia.
An Omani co-pilot accused of trying to crash a flydubai flight to Israel is said by government officials to have undergone an Islamist radical indoctrination that led him to stab the pilot and plunge the aircraft toward the ground.
The ordeal involved 174 passengers and crew, and investigators have uncovered personal material showing the co-pilot's Islamist tendencies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disclosed the findings on Thursday, in the first formal indication of a motive for a midair emergency likened to the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The co-pilot, an Omani national who has not been named, was arrested in Saudi Arabia after off-duty pilots took control and landed flydubai Flight 1073 at a regional airport.
Netanyahu claimed that early evidence showed the pilot had called out kill me, kill me after he was subdued by passengers and tied up on the floor of the aircraft cabin. The assertions are based on Israeli investigations into the co-pilot as well as witness statements about his actions on the aircraft, although accounts vary about what he said.
Witness Accounts Differ On Co-pilot Words
One witness told media in Tel Aviv, after passengers arrived safely in Israel, that he heard the co-pilot shout Allahu Akbar as the plane plunged toward the ground. Other witnesses have not made this claim, while Netanyahu gave a different account based on his conversations with the passengers who stormed the cockpit. Asked by a Fox News presenter if the co-pilot said Allahu Akbar before trying to crash the plane, the prime minister replied: No, no, none of that.
Witnesses described chaos and horror as the plane plunged and the co-pilot attacked the pilot, captain Smit Machchhar, but there are no detailed accounts of anything the attacker said during the ordeal. One passenger, Tali Niss, realised the danger in the cockpit and alerted those on board. Three others, Yaniv Hayoun, Tzvika Manes and Asaf Rajuan, confronted and subdued the co-pilot in a fight that took at least 20 minutes. Another passenger, Dr Shota Musayev, treated the wounded captain.
The five passengers are being honoured with presidential awards for heroism. Netanyahu outlined some of what occurred based on his conversations with the passengers. He said the co-pilot was suicidal and appeared intent on smashing the aircraft before the passengers stopped him. They had to tie his hands, so they used the cord of the earphones in the cockpit, he said.
And then he is lying there now, this attacker, and he calls out to the aircrew: kill me, kill me. It was clear he was going to down that plane, and with all the passengers in there. If you couple that with the Islamist tendencies and radicalisation found in his background, I think that will give us a pretty good clue about the attack. Netanyahu added that he was not making final conclusions at this stage.
Investigation Led By United Arab Emirates
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has described the events as a jihadist terrorist attack, but government investigators have made no formal statements about the co-pilot's motivations, connections to others or links to foreign states. The investigation is expected to be led by the United Arab Emirates because flydubai flight FZ1073 originated in Dubai and was flying under the UAE flag.
The injured captain was taken to hospital after the two off-duty pilots landed the aircraft at Tabuk Airport in western Saudi Arabia. He is being hailed as a hero for opening the cockpit door despite his wounds, allowing passengers to force their way in and prevent the co-pilot from smashing the instrument panel.
Netanyahu said it was not known how the co-pilot managed to have a knife on board, although he said he may have used an axe installed on the aircraft. A key concern in Israel is that flydubai, owned by an investment arm of the Dubai government, allowed an Omani citizen to fly the aircraft to Tel Aviv even though there are no diplomatic relations between Israel and Oman.
Suspension Of Flydubai Operations To Israel
The events have raised questions about whether the Omani co-pilot would have had authority to land in Israel and should have been on the aircraft. Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev suspended flydubai operations to Israel while ordering a formal inquiry into potential breaches of aviation treaties. Netanyahu expressed amazement at the way the passengers subdued the co-pilot and said one of them, Hayoun, a plumber, had told him he watched aircraft crash investigation documentaries on television.
This helped the passenger know how to bring the aircraft out of its dive. I asked him, How did you know how to do that? And he said, Well, I watched these air disaster films, Netanyahu told Fox News. This is Hollywood on steroids.
You cannot make this up. You cannot believe that it actually happens in real life, but it did. A colleague, who is also a pilot, told Israel's Channel 16 that the Omani national joined flydubai eight months ago. The co-pilot is now under arrest in Saudi Arabia as the investigation continues into how the security breach occurred and why a citizen of a country without diplomatic ties to Israel was permitted to fly a commercial airliner to Tel Aviv.
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brisbanetimes:‘Islamist radical’: Israel claims horror flight co-pilot shared hate online 
smh:‘Islamist radical’: Israel claims horror flight co-pilot shared hate onlineThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Islamist Radical Indoctrination Plane Crash Attempt Co-Pilot Arrest 9/11 Comparison Passengers Subdue Attacker Flydubai Flight FZ1073 Omani Co-Pilot Arrest Israel Saudi Arabia Landing Passenger Heroism Awards Omani Co-Pilot Benjamin Netanyahu Islamist Radicalisation Tabuk Airport
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