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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a Flydubai co-pilot who allegedly tried to crash a Dubai-bound flight to Tel Aviv had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination and was likely acting alone. The passenger aircraft diverted to Saudi Arabia after the crew and passengers subdued the attacker, and investigations are ongoing in Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
In brief Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the flydubai co-pilot who allegedly attempted to crash a plane had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination. A flydubai co-pilot who stabbed the captain in an alleged attempt to crash the plane as it flew to Israel had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination and was clearly suicidal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says.
Disaster was averted on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv at around 6.30am coordinated universal time on Wednesday after the wounded captain managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers to subdue the attacker. A reserve crew that had been aboard landed the plane, which had more than 170 people on board, at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.
"We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination. That appears to be something we are gathering from his personal information," Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News. Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Two Israeli security officials said Israel's initial assessment was that the co-pilot, identified by Israel as an Omani national, was likely acting alone, though the investigation was still ongoing. The flight plunged more than 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds during the incident as it flew over Saudi Arabia on the journey from the United Arab Emirates to Israel, according to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
"It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane," Netanyahu said. Coupled with "the Islamist tendencies, that radicalisation that are found in his background, I think that's ... a pretty good clue," he said, without elaborating. The United Arab Emirates has started investigations seeking to establish the circumstances and motives and determine "whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose, or involved prior planning or direction", the UAE state news agency reported.
Israel's envoy to the UAE, Yossi Shelley, told Reuters it was too early to draw conclusions and no motive had been determined. Another Israeli official said Israel was not receiving all the information it sought from the Saudis and that the Israeli intelligence services, Mossad and Shin Bet, were investigating the incident as well. The Saudi government's media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Saudi Arabia has issued no statements on its investigations.
"We have constraints that say you can't have pilots from countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel. So obviously he was able to go through that," Netanyahu told Fox. In a separate interview with Fox News, Netanyahu said the attacker was being investigated in Saudi Arabia and he believed that he would be taken to the UAE. There have been no official suggestions from Israel of Iranian involvement.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said that Israel's preliminary information indicated that the co-pilot aimed to crash the plane, describing him as a terrorist, though Netanyahu only described it as "a serious security incident". The incident heightened security fears in Israel weeks before Israelis vote in the first election since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, with Israel's security figuring prominently in the campaigning.
The US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February, in a conflict that quickly spread to the Gulf and Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have hailed the captain and Indian national Smit Machchhar as a hero. Israel has also lauded passengers who subdued the attacker.
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