WHO SENT HIM? Netanyahu Vows “Very Heavy Price” as Flydubai Terror Investigation Turns to Possible Mastermind
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said Friday that investigators are increasingly convinced that the Flydubai co-pilot intended to deliberately crash Flight FZ1073 with everyone aboard, while authorities are now trying to determine whether the alleged terrorist acted on instructions from someone else.
Netanyahu’s latest remarks represent his strongest statement yet regarding the suspected motive behind Wednesday’s terrifying attack aboard the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight. He said the investigation has found evidence of Islamist radicalization and warned that if another party dispatched the attacker, those responsible would face severe consequences.
“As time passes, the picture becomes clearer. Yaniv and his brave friends averted another 9/11,” Netanyahu said. “The attacker underwent Islamist radicalization; he came to crash the plane with everyone inside. We are investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.”
Netanyahu was referring to Israeli passenger Yaniv Hayun and the other passengers and crew members who rushed into the cockpit after the wounded captain, Smit Machchhar, managed to open the cockpit door. Hayun helped wrest the attacker away from the controls as the Boeing 737 was rapidly losing altitude, while other passengers subdued him and additional pilots aboard the flight ultimately took control of the aircraft.
The prime minister’s emphasis on whether the attacker “was sent” comes as investigators in the United Arab Emirates examine whether the incident involved advance planning, terrorist motives or outside direction. The accused co-pilot, an Omani national whose name has not been publicly released, has been transferred from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi and is now in UAE custody.
No evidence has yet been publicly released establishing that a government, terrorist organization or other outside party directed the attack. Netanyahu has previously said that investigators were examining the possibility of Iranian involvement but had not established such a connection.
The investigation took another significant turn Friday when senior UAE official Anwar Gargash publicly characterized the incident as terrorism, marking one of the clearest descriptions of the attack to date from an Emirati official.
Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, referred to the attempted downing of the aircraft as “an act of terror” while praising Machchhar for his actions during the crisis.
“The FlyDubai pilot deserves full credit,” Gargash wrote. “In the face of a dangerous act of terror and a potential disaster, he embodied the true meaning of courage and responsibility. The professionalism and moral integrity he demonstrated in the most challenging circumstances make him a real hero.”
Gargash nevertheless cautioned against jumping from the emerging evidence to conclusions about who may have been behind the attack.
He added a note of caution, writing: “Without endorsing interpretations or promoting conspiracy theories, alertness and caution remain essential in dealing with the dangers of extremism and terror.”
Machchhar, meanwhile, spoke publicly Friday for the first time about the extraordinary battle inside the cockpit, recounting the ordeal during an emotional video conversation from his Abu Dhabi hospital bed with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The veteran Indian pilot, who has approximately 17 years of aviation experience and has served as a captain for roughly 11 years, described realizing from the movement of the aircraft that it was plunging while he lay badly wounded on the cockpit floor.
Machchhar said that despite his injuries, he understood that reaching and opening the cockpit door represented his last opportunity to save the aircraft. Once he succeeded, passengers were able to enter the cockpit and confront the attacker.
He explained that he was fighting for his own survival while simultaneously realizing that the lives of everyone aboard depended on him getting the door open.
The captain suffered multiple wounds to his head and hands during the attack. Images from his conversation with Modi showed him in a hospital bed with visible bandaging as he described the ordeal.
Machchhar also revealed that he drew strength from his religious faith during the attack, reciting the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn, as he fought to remain conscious and respond to the unfolding emergency.
Modi praised the captain’s courage, composure and presence of mind, telling him that India was praying for his recovery and expressing pride in the actions that helped save the aircraft and its passengers.
Flight FZ1073 had departed Dubai for Tel Aviv Wednesday with 174 people aboard when the co-pilot allegedly attacked Machchhar and attempted to force the aircraft downward. Flight-tracking data showed the plane losing roughly 14,000 feet of altitude in less than a minute during the most dramatic portion of the emergency.
The aircraft transmitted emergency signals, including a code associated with unlawful interference, as the crisis unfolded in the cockpit.
After Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, Hayun and others rushed forward. The attacker was pulled away from the controls and eventually restrained, while qualified pilots who happened to be traveling aboard the flight helped stabilize the aircraft and divert it to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu subsequently met Hayun after his return to Israel and praised his actions, telling him that without his intervention the incident could have ended in a catastrophe resembling the September 11 attacks.
Saudi authorities conducted the initial investigation after the emergency landing and later transferred both Machchhar and the accused co-pilot to Abu Dhabi. Machchhar is continuing to recover in a UAE hospital, while the suspect is being held as Emirati authorities investigate his background and motive.
The UAE Attorney General has established a specialized prosecutorial team to investigate the case, including whether the attack was connected to terrorism and whether it involved prior planning or direction by others.
Investigators are expected to scrutinize the co-pilot’s communications, contacts and activities before the flight as they seek to determine how and when he was allegedly radicalized and whether anyone else knew of or participated in the plan.
For Netanyahu, that unanswered question has now moved to the center of the investigation: authorities believe they increasingly understand what the attacker intended to do aboard FZ1073, but they are still trying to establish whether the plan began and ended with the man inside the cockpit — or whether someone else sent him.
{Matzav.com}
