THE FlyDubai The alleged hijacking attempt was likely a lone wolf attack, according to an initial Israeli investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investigation is still in full swing and all leads are still being explored, the people familiar told CBS News.
Wednesday’s flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to crash the planeIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passengers on board the plane and the captain said so.
The captain was able to push the co-pilot away long enough to unlock the cockpit door. A group of Israeli passengers and FlyDubai staff then overpowered the co-pilot, and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to take control of the plane and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
The co-pilot is currently in the United Arab Emirates, where he is undergoing a second round of questioning after first being questioned by Saudi authorities during the plane’s emergency landing. Israel sent its own representatives to the United Arab Emirates to participate in the investigation.
President Trump suggested Thursday that the co-pilot could be linked to Iran, “from what I hear.”
“We are working on it now,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re very open with us. I would say the answer, from what I’m hearing, is yes. But we’re working on it right now.”
Netanyahu told CBS News on Wednesday that the co-pilot’s motives were still unknown.
‘I don’t think it’s a diversion,’ Netanyahu told “CBS Evening News” presenter Tony Dokoupil, adding: “I think it looks like a suicide attempt.”
Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Netanyahu said Israel knew that the co-pilot “had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination,” based on “personal information” collected during ongoing interrogations. He gave no further information about the alleged indoctrination, but added to Fox that the attacker was “suicidal” and that after being overpowered by other crew members and passengers, he shouted, “Kill me, kill me!”
The flight’s co-pilot has not yet been publicly identified, although several sources close to the investigation told CBS News on Friday that his name is Hamam al Hamami.
Al Hamami worked for a short time for Oman Air, where he underwent further pilot training. Surveillance by the Omani government revealed that he visited radical websites, according to the sources. Oman Air then transferred him to an office job.
One of the sources said the pilot resigned from his job at Oman Air after being assigned to a desk job. He left the airline around 2024.
At one point, according to sources, al Hamami posted a video of El Al Israel Airlines planes in Dubai with a photo at the end of the clip showing Ayman al-Zawahiri, a well-known al-Qaeda leader. who was killed during a US drone strike in 2022.
Al Hamami moved to Dubai and FlyDubai hired him without vetting him with the Omani government, the sources told CBS News.
Al Hamami is an Omani citizen but was not born in Oman, the sources said. He has lived most of his life outside Oman, according to the sources, who revealed that his mother is Syrian and his father Omani.
The Omani government has not publicly confirmed his nationality.
The sources said it was possible he had dual citizenship, as that could explain how he was allowed to travel to Israel.
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