Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a thorough review of “all aspects” of security of foreign civil flights to Israel, in the wake of the attack on a flight bound for Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Netanyahu instructed the head of the National Security Council, Shmuel Ben Ezra, to appoint an examiner to conduct the review, Netanyahu’s office said Sunday on X.
A co-pilot of a flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv allegedly attacked his fellow pilot with a crash ax and put the plane and its roughly 180 passengers into a sharp descent. The captain managed to open the cockpit door, enabling passengers and crew members to take control of the plane and make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, passengers said.
The suspected attacker on FlyDubai Flight 1073 has been identified as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, according to Yossi Avraham Shelley, Israel’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Netanyahu said last week that the co-pilot was “suicidal” and “underwent Islamic radical indoctrination.”
Netanyahu said Friday that Israel was investigating “whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.”
A person familiar with the matter told The Washington Post that al-Hammami had specifically been blocked from flying planes for Oman Air because of his radical views. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said that the co-pilot had been placed in a desk job because of these views and that he had then resigned.
The person did not give details about those views, and it was not immediately clear whether FlyDubai or the Emirati government, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment, were aware of this.
Officials from Israel’s Transportation Ministry on Saturday appeared to place the blame on FlyDubai and security in the UAE, telling reporters in a call that they should have conducted background checks on the pilot, and that a pilot from Oman – which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel – should not have been allowed to fly a plane to Tel Aviv.
On Tuesday, before the attack, Netanyahu issued a video warning from the Tel Nof air base that there might be an attack against Israel ahead of elections in late October.
“We have indications that, ahead of the elections, our enemies will try to attack us. … I send you this message: Do not mess with us, not now and not ever. Our long arm will reach you anywhere, at any time,” he said in the video statement.