Islamist-indoctrinated flydubai co-pilot yelled 'kill me' after capture: Netanyahu

A mid-air attack on a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight has triggered a probe into a possible hijacking or terrorist incident. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the co-pilot who stabbed Indian captain Smit Machchhar had undergone radical indoctrination, while investigators probe a possible Iran link.

“Kill me, kill me,” the co-pilot shouted after being subdued, in a startling detail revealed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Fox News a day after the mid-air attack on a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight.

The attack put the lives of 180 passengers, mostly Israelis, at risk. Netanyahu claimed the co-pilot who stabbed Indian captain Smit Machchhar had undergone radical indoctrination and was “suicidal”, appearing intent on bringing down the plane.

Investigators are still working to establish the full motive behind the attack and determine how the co-pilot was able to carry it out aboard the flight.

In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu said investigators would be able to determine “in a matter of days” whether the co-pilot had any links to Iran.

"It's too early to say, the attacking pilot is...he is now being investigated in Saudi Arabia. I think he'll be taken to the Emirates, where he comes from, or at least where he left, where he flew off from, and we'll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation, he told Fox News.

While authorities have not yet disclosed the co-pilot’s identity, he is reportedly an Omani national who was arrested after flydubai flight FZ1073 made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

Revealing that Israel would question the co-pilot and probe any possible Iran angle, he told Fox News, “We’ll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices and whether Iran was behind it. I think we’ll find out very soon.”

"We'll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation," he added.

Netanyahu joined other members of the Israeli administration in describing the incident as a jihadist terror attack. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz was among the first to call it “an attempted jihadist terror attack”.

The Israeli Embassy in India also described the incident as an “attempted jihadist terror attack”, saying a flydubai flight carrying 170 Israelis became the scene of the attack.

The embassy further said the incident was not only an attack on Israelis but also an attempt to derail the Abraham Accords, the agreements brokered under former US President Donald Trump.

“This was an attack on Israelis, the UAE and the Abraham Accords,” the embassy said.

Both Israel and the United Arab Emirates are currently investigating whether the bloodied attack on the pilot by his co-pilot aboard a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight was an attempted hijacking or a terrorist incident.

Meanwhile, Israel's Ambassador to the UAE Yossi Avraham Shelley reportedly cautioned against drawing any early conclusions.

'PRAYED EXCESSIVELY, DIDN'T SHAKE HANDS WITH WOMEN'

Before Netanyahu’s comments to Fox News, speculation about the co-pilot’s religious beliefs had already begun circulating in the media. Tel Aviv-based Channel 16’s Foreign News Editor, Yosef Israel, cited a flydubai pilot as describing the accused co-pilot as displaying “very religious” behaviour.

"He prayed excessively throughout the day and refused to shake hands with women," the colleague was quoted as saying by Yosef. However, Yosef didn't reveal the identity of the pilot.

“There is no other way to put it. We hired the services of a terrorist and nearly caused the deaths of 180 people,” Yosef quoted the colleague as saying.

When asked how the co-pilot was given charge of the flight to Israel, he wondered how an Omani national, whose country has no diplomatic relations with Israel, was allowed to operate the flight.

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