&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Netanyahu says Omani flydubai copilot ‘underwent Islamist radical indoctrination’, was suicidal")
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the Omani copilot who stabbed the pilot on flydubai flight in an attempt to crash the plane carrying many Israelis “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” and was suicidal as he yelled, “Kill me, kill me,” after being overpowered.
In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu said that the copilot is being interrogated in Saudi Arabia.
“We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” Netanyahu said, adding that investigators would examine in the coming days whether there was any “Iran link” to the incident.
During the incident, the attacker called out to the aircrew, ‘Kill me, kill me,’ making it clear that he was “suicidal,” he added.
‘We’ll join interrogation and find out what happened’
Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia is currently holding the copilot and will, “I assume, very quickly” transfer him to Dubai for interrogation. “He’s an Omani national… We’ll join the interrogation and find out what happened there exactly.”
“I think it’s too early to say whether there was Iranian collusion,” the Israeli PM said, but added that he anticipates more definitive findings soon.
Netanyahu said within the coming days, Israel will be able to conclusively say whether the copilot had any links to Iran.
Referring to the thinking when the initial “hijacking alert” came and fighter jets were reportedly scrambled, Netanyahu said, “This may be the toughest situation that we can be in… where an unidentified passenger plane is heading towards Israel.”
‘There were signs from Iran-backed groups…’
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Netanyahu also said there were “signs” from Iran-backed groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah of plans to carry out attacks in Israel but stressed that it was not yet known whether the flydubai incident was linked to those plans.
The incident involved flydubai flight FZ 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, when the Omani copilot allegedly stabbed Indian captain Smit Machchhar and seriously wounded him during the flight. Despite his injuries, Machchhar reportedly managed to alert authorities and open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower and pin down the attacker while foiling his dastardly plans.
The attack put the lives of 180 passengers, mostly Israelis, at risk.
Two off-duty flydubai pilots travelling as passengers then helped take control of the aircraft, which made an emergency landing at Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport.
The passengers were later flown to Tel Aviv on another aircraft, while Machchhar was initially treated in Saudi Arabia and later airlifted to Abu Dhabi.
Investigators still working to establish real motive behind attack
Investigators are still working to establish the real and full motive behind the attack and determine how the co-pilot was able to carry it out aboard the flight.
While authorities have not yet disclosed the co-pilot’s identity, he is reportedly an Omani national who was arrested after flydubai flight FZ1073 made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Revealing that Israel would question the co-pilot and probe any possible Iran angle, Netanyahu told Fox News, “We’ll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices and whether Iran was behind it. I think we’ll find out very soon.”
“We’ll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation,” he added.
Netanyahu joined other members of the Israeli administration in describing the incident as a jihadist terror attack. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz was among the first to call it “an attempted jihadist terror attack”.
