The motive behind the FlyDubai cockpit stabbing remains unclear after the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain during a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it was too early to determine whether the incident was terrorism, a mental health crisis or something else.
Mr Netanyahu said he did not believe the incident was a hijacking. Speaking to CBS News, he suggested it appeared to be a suicide attempt, based on an account from passenger Yaniv Hayoun, who helped restrain the attacker.
“I don’t think it was a hijacking,” Mr Netanyahu said. He added: “I think it looks like a suicide attempt simply because of what this hero Yaniv described when he went in.”
The prime minister said the co-pilot had attempted to jam equipment between the two pilot seats rather than take control of the aircraft. “He wasn’t sitting in the pilot seat trying to stabilize the plane, he was trying to jam the equipment,” he said.
The incident happened on Wednesday morning, about two hours after the aircraft left Dubai. Israeli officials said the captain, an Indian national, fought off the co-pilot and unlocked the cockpit door before passengers and crew members entered and subdued the attacker.
Flight data analysed by the BBC indicated that the plane plunged about 17,000 feet, climbed 5,000 feet and then dropped a further 7,000 feet before stabilising.
Two off-duty pilots took control of the aircraft and made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. There were 174 people on board, and most passengers later travelled on a replacement FlyDubai aircraft to Ben Gurion International Airport, arriving on Wednesday night.
The attacker’s identity has not been released. An Omani official said he was born in Oman and held Omani citizenship, although the Omani government has not publicly confirmed his nationality.
Mr Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel had learned during questioning that the co-pilot had undergone what he described as “Islamist radical indoctrination”. He gave no further details, but said the attacker had been suicidal and shouted, “Kill me, kill me!” after being subdued.
Israeli officials said the man was being interrogated in Saudi Arabia. Mr Netanyahu said he expected him to be moved quickly to Dubai, where Israeli authorities would join the questioning to establish what had happened.
A senior Israeli official said the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, had personally told Mr Netanyahu that he expected Saudi authorities to transfer the co-pilot to the UAE for questioning.
Mr Netanyahu also raised the possibility of Iranian involvement, saying Israel had seen indications that Iran and its proxies intended to increase attacks against Israel and Israeli nationals overseas. But he said it was too early to say whether there had been any Iranian collusion in the cockpit stabbing.
An Israeli security official had previously said investigators were examining whether the incident could have been an attempted September 11-style terror attack. No definitive motive has been established.
FlyDubai said the reasons behind the incident remained unknown and were subject to a formal investigation. The airline urged all parties to avoid premature speculation while authorities gathered the facts.
