WASHINGTON (TNND) — The key question in what appears to be an attempted hijacking is: what was the motive in trying to take down a plane headed from Dubai to Israel?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a video online of him meeting with Yaniv Hayoun, who he called a true hero. (TNND)
On Thursday, President Donald Trump was asked whether the suspect is linked to Iran.
“We’re working on it right now,” the President said. “They’re being very open with us. I would say the answer that I’m hearing is yes.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a video online of him meeting with Yaniv Hayoun, who he called a true hero.
Still in a blood-soaked shirt, the Israeli plumber is credited with helping to take down the co-pilot of the FlyDubai flight, bound for Tel Aviv.
That co-pilot is accused of stabbing the Captain, possibly with an ax and attempting to crash the plane, causing it to drop more than 17,000 feet in less than two minutes.
The captain was apparently able to unlock the cockpit door during the attack, allowing passengers inside.
Two off-duty pilots on board later landed the plane in Saudi Arabia.
In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu called it a Hollywood-style response carried out by everyday Israeli citizens.
“One guy overcame the attacker, the other helped tie him up. A doctor came in; he’s a dentist, to take care of the pilot. He told his wife, go back and calm the passengers says.
She overcame her fear that she was going to die and calmed the passengers. Another one guarded the cockpit; nobody came in.”
In an interview with CNN, Tzvika Manes, a passenger who helped subdue the alleged attacker, said, “I was covered with blood from fighting him. When you are in that moment, you don’t feel anything; you act, actually, like a machine, trying to control the situation.”
Questions are mounting about the motive of the suspect, an Omani national, which top Israeli officials say is already becoming clearer.
“We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination. That appears to be something we’re gathering from information, his personal information,” Netanyahu said, adding that once he was subdued, the attacker actually said to the aircrew, “Kill me. Kill me.”
The investigation now underway is being conducted by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Thursday that U.S. intelligence is also looking into whether there were any connections to the United States or part of a larger plot.