Australian police and intelligence are joining the list of investigators into the incident.
Published on October 4, 2026
Authorities said they were investigating the links of the co-pilot of the Israel-bound Flydubai flight to Australia.
A multi-agency Australian police and intelligence team – the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team – is leading the investigation, a spokesperson said on Sunday.
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Mystery surrounds the co-pilot, accused of attacking the captain with an ax and trying to take control of flight FZ1073 from Dubai as it approached Israel, and how he was able to get his seat in the plane’s cockpit.
He was identified in the media as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami.
He was banned from flying in his own country because he feared he had adopted “extremist” views, sources were quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
While al-Hammami is believed to have spent part of his life in the United Arab Emirates, the Reuters news agency, citing sources briefed on the Australian investigation, reported that he studied at a university in the Australian city of Melbourne.
A third anonymous source told the agency he studied at RMIT University, a public research university in Melbourne, about ten years ago.
The Financial Times also reported on al-Hammami’s ties to Australia. Citing two sources close to the Australian investigation, the FT said al-Hammami allegedly visited what it described as “radical mosques and extremist websites” during his time in the country.
Disaster was averted after passengers and crew overpowered the co-pilot and a reserve pilot took control and made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
However, the case raises questions about security in Israel, which has some of the strictest air security measures in the world.
UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi called the attack an attempted “terrorist act.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has long-standing agreements with foreign airlines aimed at preventing pilots from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel from flying there.
Netanyahu said a “loophole” appears to have allowed the Omani pilot to take part in the Flydubai flight, and that Israel would now tighten its controls.
The UAE has not yet publicly established the motive or announced whether investigators believe al-Hammami acted alone.
UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said Saturday that the latest “terrorist” attack is another warning that the region’s fight against “extremism” is not over.
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