Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that the individual who attempted to bring down a Flydubai aircraft had undergone “Islamist radicalization.” On Wednesday, the co-pilot of a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv tried to crash the plane by stabbing the pilot, but passengers managed to subdue him. Other pilots on board successfully executed an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu elaborated that the assailant had intended to bring the aircraft down with all passengers on board. “As time goes by, the picture becomes clearer: the attacker went through a process of Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane with all its passengers aboard,” he stated in a communication reported by AFP.
He emphasized that investigations are underway to determine if the attacker was sent by someone, warning that whoever is found to have sent him will pay a heavy price, although he did not specify any state or other entity.
Trump’s Comments
U.S. President Donald Trump, who reached a ceasefire with Iran in April that is now effectively unraveling, commented on Thursday in response to a question that he has “heard” about Iran’s possible involvement, stating that if this is the case, the country “will be hit very hard.” Israel and the United States have blamed Iran for numerous attacks globally since the 1979 revolution.
However, AFP notes that Iran has few known connections to airplane hijackings, which are tactics more characteristic of al-Qaeda, as seen in the September 11, 2001 attacks, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the 1960s and 1970s.
The aircraft, which carried 174 people, lost nearly 4,300 meters in altitude in less than 30 seconds during the incident. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot who was stabbed by the co-pilot, who provided details about the event.
