New Delhi : The Omani copilot who stabbed the Indian pilot, Capt Smit Macchchhar and attempted to take over a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv had discussed killing Jews on social media. The attacker also asked Emirati crew members to kill him, citing conversations with passengers aboard the flight. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said investigations suggested that the man who stabbed his fellow pilot and tried to take over the flight had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”.
Netanyahu told media that it was looking “very likely” that the attacker, whom he identified as an Omani national, was going to down the plane”. The Israeli official also said investigators could not yet establish the motive with certainty. We can’t say for sure until the investigation’s over, the official said. “But it certainly seems like he was a suicide actor who was probably going to try to down that 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,” Netanyahu said. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) state news agency reported that investigations had begun there to determine “whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose”.
“Our understanding is he’s going to be transferred to the UAE,” the official said, according to The Times of Israel. “We will be part of that investigation.” In the meantime, Israel is conducting its own internal investigation into the incident and making changes to its security procedures, the official said. The source said the investigation, led by Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, interviewed passengers after they arrived in Tel Aviv to establish what happened aboard the plane.
Netanyahu, when asked earlier on Fox News whether there was any indication Iran was involved, said: “It’s too early to say.” Netanyahu said pilots from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel were usually not allowed to fly there when asked how the suspected Omani pilot came to be on the plane. He added: “Obviously there was a loophole here, and we’re taking care of that among other things… with the full co-operation, I have to say, of the Emirati government, so we’re both interested in making sure this doesn’t happen again.”
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