Flydubai Attacker Was an Omani Who Shouted 'Kill Me', Netanyahu Says
Investigations suggest the co-pilot who stabbed his captain and tried to bring down a Dubai to Tel Aviv flight had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”, the Israeli prime minister said, describing him as an Omani national. Once subdued and tied up he was “calling out to the aircrew ‘kill me, kill me’, so it’s clear he was suicidal”. On Iranian involvement he again said it was too early to say.
Two separate inquiries are converging on intent. Benjamin Netanyahu said it looked “very likely” the attacker “was going to down the plane”, and preliminary findings from an Israeli investigation also suggest he meant to crash it. What is still missing is any official account of motive from the authorities actually holding him: he was arrested in Saudi Arabia and is expected to be transferred to the United Arab Emirates, and neither has published findings. That gap matters, because every characterisation so far has come from Israeli ministers — the defence minister called it an “attempted jihadist terror attack” on Wednesday — while the airline has asked everyone to wait for the formal investigation and has suspended its flights to Israel in the meantime. The aircraft fell more than seventeen thousand feet before passengers and crew retook control of it. Watch whether Oman says anything, and whether any evidence of direction emerges rather than radicalisation alone.