Updated ,first published
London: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say the co-pilot accused of trying to crash a flight to Israel had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination” leading him to stab the pilot and plunge the aircraft towards the ground in a horrifying ordeal for 174 passengers and crew.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has suggested – without providing evidence – that the co-pilot may have links to Iran.
When asked by reporters whether he had been briefed about any links between the suspect and Tehran, he said, “I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is yes, but we’re working on it right now.”
Investigators have uncovered personal material that showed his Islamist tendencies, Netanyahu said on Thursday, in the first formal indication of a motive for a midair emergency likened to the 9/11 attacks in the US.
The co-pilot, an Omani national who has not been named, was arrested in Saudi Arabia when off-duty pilots took control and landed flydubai Flight 1073 at a regional airport after passengers stormed the cockpit and prevented a disaster.
Netanyahu claimed 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.
“We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” Netanyahu told Fox News, in the first public remarks on this aspect of the investigation.
“That appears to be something we’re gathering from the information, his personal information.”
Israeli government officials told the media that the co-pilot had talked on social media about killing Jews and had displayed his “jihadist ideology” online.
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.
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 towards 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.
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, dentist 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.
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.”
Netanyahu said the co-pilot was suicidal and appeared to be 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 – I mean, talk about improvisation,” he said.
“And then he’s lying there now, this attacker, and he calls out to the aircrew: ‘kill me, kill me’.
“So it’s clear he was suicidal. That’s not a question.
“It was clear he was going to down that plane – Oh, it’s not clear, but it looks very likely that he was going to down the plane, and with all the passengers in there.
“And if you couple that with what I just told you about the Islamist tendencies, that radicalisation that were found in his background, I think that’ll give us a pretty good clue [about the attack].”
Netanyahu added that he was not making “final conclusions” at this stage.
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.
Trump’s suggestion of an Iranian link come as diplomatic efforts to end the war appear to have stalled. He did not elaborate why he thought Iran might be involved.
Asked if the US would retaliate against Tehran if it was behind the attack, Trump said, “Oh they’ll be hit, very hard, don’t worry.”
“You just ask them,” he added. “They know what happened. They’ll be hit very hard.”
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 prosecutor-general in the UAE has begun the investigation. A regional official briefed on the investigation confirmed that Saudi authorities were working with countries, including Israel, to try to determine a motive. He said the UAE, the US and Oman also were involved. Saudi Arabia said on Friday morning (AEST) that the suspect had been handed over to the UAE.
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 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 that was 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 when there are no diplomatic relations between Israel and Oman.
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.
One colleague who knew the Omani co-pilot described him as a religious extremist in an article published by The Times of Israel.
The colleague, who is also a pilot, told Israel’s Channel 16 the co-pilot joined flydubai eight months ago.
“He prayed excessively throughout the day and refused to shake hands with women,” the pilot said.
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 can’t make this up. You can’t believe that it actually happens in real life, but it did.”
Two Australians on board, Steven and Carol Moss, are yet to comment on the events.
David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.