Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would pursue the “root” of the attempted attack by the co-pilot of an Israel-bound flydubai flight, adding that Israeli officials may take part in the investigation.
Passengers and crew averted disaster on yesterday’s flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, which was carrying 170 people. After the captain was injured, he managed to open the cockpit door, enabling passengers to restrain the attacker while reserve crew members on board brought the aircraft safely down in Saudi Arabia.
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Mr Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia was investigating the suspect after the plane landed at Tabuk airport and suggested he could later be transferred to the United Arab Emirates.
“We’ll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation,” Mr Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Netanyahu says too early to tell who is behind plane attack
“We’ll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices, whether Iran was behind it. I think we’ll find out very soon,” he said.
Israel has made no official allegation that Iran was involved.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said yesterday that preliminary Israeli information indicated the co-pilot had intended to crash the aircraft, calling him a terrorist. Mr Netanyahu, however, referred only to “a serious security incident”.
UAE investigating possible ‘planning or direction’
The UAE has opened an investigation into the circumstances and motives behind the incident, including “whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose, or involved prior planning or direction”, the UAE state news agency reported.
The statement said UAE judicial authorities had jurisdiction because the aircraft is registered in the UAE and operates under its flag. UAE law also applies to crimes committed aboard the plane, even when they take place outside the country’s territory.
An Israeli official yesterday identified the attacker as an Omani national.
Omani authorities have not commented on the claim.
Pilot Smit Machchhar was hailed a ‘hero’
The aircraft dropped almost 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds while flying over Saudi Arabia before passengers and crew subdued the attacker and brought the plane in to land.
Saudi Arabia has not issued any statement about its investigation.
Tabuk airport said yesterday that both pilots had been taken to hospital with injuries.
Flydubai said the reasons behind the incident were still unknown and urged people to avoid “premature speculation”.
The episode intensified security concerns in Israel just weeks before the country’s vote in its first election since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. National security has been a central issue in the campaign.
The US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February, triggering a conflict that quickly spread across the Gulf and into Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group.
Captain hailed as a hero
Mr Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have praised the captain of flight FZ1073, Indian national Smit Machchhar, as a hero.
The Indian ambassador to the UAE met Captain Machchhar’s family and provided an update on his condition and recovery, according to the Indian consulate in the UAE.
In his Fox News interview, Mr Netanyahu said Machchhar appeared to have been stabbed or struck with an axe by the other pilot and had lost a significant amount of blood.
Israel has also commended the passengers who helped overpower the attacker.
Yaniv Hayun, one of the men who restrained him, said he ran towards the cockpit as the aircraft plunged.
“We pulled the assailant out, I pulled him out. After I pulled him out we took control of the plane, I pulled up the yoke (steering control of the plane), I straightened the plane out a bit,” he told reporters after returning to Israel yesterday.
Passengers recount what happened on plane
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