HE ALMOST DID IT IN JULY: Flydubai Co-Pilot Accused of Israel-Bound Terror Plot Had Planned Earlier Attack but Backed Out at Last Moment
The Flydubai co-pilot accused of trying to seize an Israel-bound passenger jet and crash it into Ben Gurion Airport had allegedly planned to carry out essentially the same terrorist attack months earlier, only to abandon the July attempt because someone he cared about was among the crew, according to new details emerging from the investigation.
The disclosure adds another alarming dimension to the case of Hamam al-Hammami, the Omani national accused of attacking the captain of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 with a cockpit emergency ax on September 30 as the Boeing 737 traveled from Dubai toward Tel Aviv. Investigators now believe Hammami had been contemplating an attack on Israel well before the flight on which he ultimately acted.
According to people briefed on the investigation, Hammami has told interrogators that he nearly carried out his plan during an earlier flight in July. Some of those familiar with his account said he changed his mind because of his feelings for a crew member who would have been endangered.
Investigators have also been told that Hammami was motivated by the war in Gaza following the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates, where Hammami remains in custody, have formally characterized the September incident as a terrorist attack.
The emerging evidence suggests that Hammami may have deliberately structured his aviation career around obtaining access to flights bound for Israel. Before joining Flydubai, he reportedly searched for an airline operating routes to Israel. After being hired by the Dubai-based carrier in February, he subsequently sought assignment to the Dubai-Tel Aviv route.
Investigators are examining Hammami’s electronic devices and online history as they attempt to determine when his alleged plans began, whether anyone else knew about them and whether he had connections to extremist individuals or organizations. Authorities in several countries where Hammami lived, studied or trained are now examining his background.
Hammami’s aviation history has emerged as one of the most troubling aspects of the investigation. Before joining Flydubai, he had worked for Oman Air, where he was reportedly barred from flying after authorities became concerned about his extremist views and online activity.
According to information uncovered since the attack, Omani authorities had scrutinized Hammami’s internet habits, placed him in a deradicalization program and moved him away from flying duties to a desk position. Those concerns, however, were apparently not transmitted through channels that would prevent him from obtaining another commercial aviation job abroad.
Hammami also sought work with Royal Air Maroc. The Moroccan carrier has said that he underwent approximately three months of theoretical training with the airline but never flew its aircraft. He was ultimately not hired as a pilot.
His aviation training took him through several Western countries as well. Authorities have been examining his time in Australia and New Zealand, and reporting has also linked him to flight training in Britain. Australian and New Zealand authorities have opened inquiries into his activities and associations during the years he spent in those countries.
Despite the concerns that had surfaced in Oman, Flydubai hired Hammami earlier this year. The airline reportedly conducted a criminal-background check but did not obtain a security assessment from Omani authorities that would have revealed the concerns that had previously resulted in his removal from flying duties.
Flydubai has declined to discuss the specifics of Hammami’s hiring while the investigation remains underway.
The security questions extend beyond Flydubai. Under longstanding Israeli arrangements governing foreign airlines, pilots who are citizens of countries without diplomatic relations with Israel are not supposed to operate flights into the country. Oman does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, meaning Hammami’s nationality alone should have raised an issue before he was assigned to the Tel Aviv route.
Nevertheless, he flew to Israel repeatedly without being stopped. Reports indicate that more than 1,200 crew members from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel have entered the country aboard foreign flights this year, raising broader questions about whether the restriction was being enforced.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates had also provided Israel with the passenger and crew manifest for Flight FZ1073 before the September 30 flight, including the pilots’ names and nationalities. Hammami was not flagged.
The revelation has triggered a dispute inside Israel over which government body was responsible for identifying the threat. The Shin Bet has said that responsibility for screening information connected to foreign civil aviation rests with the Transportation Ministry, while Transportation Minister Miri Regev has argued that intelligence and security agencies are responsible for identifying terrorism threats and that her ministry was not provided with actionable warnings about Hammami.
Transportation officials have countered that their security division is not an intelligence service and lacks the capability to conduct individual intelligence investigations into every foreign pilot and passenger traveling to Israel.
“The Security Division carries out a security assessment of aviation to Israel with the airline and local authorities. We request a declaration that all pilots have undergone a security background check. We are not an intelligence agency that conducts intelligence background checks. We have 120 airlines flying here. We are not the Shin Bet, and we don’t have people abroad,” Transportation Ministry security official Tamir Uri said.
The dispute has widened amid reports that the Transportation Ministry had previously been given expanded responsibility for foreign-flight security. Questions have also been raised over funding and personnel that were intended to help the ministry handle those duties, with the ministry disputing claims that it had received resources and failed to use them.
The September 30 attack itself came perilously close to catastrophe. Hammami is accused of repeatedly attacking Capt. Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, with the emergency crash ax kept inside the cockpit. During the struggle, the aircraft entered a rapid and steep descent.
Despite suffering serious injuries, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door. Passengers and off-duty Flydubai personnel aboard the aircraft rushed inside and overpowered Hammami before he could regain control.
Another qualified Flydubai pilot traveling on the aircraft then assumed control, and the plane was diverted for an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. There were 182 people aboard the aircraft, including passengers and crew.
Investigators believe Hammami’s intended plan went considerably beyond simply taking control of the aircraft. Israeli reports have said that he intended to eliminate or incapacitate the captain, continue flying normally toward Israel, obtain the necessary clearances to approach Ben Gurion Airport and then deliberately crash the aircraft into the airport or another major target.
The discovery that Hammami allegedly considered carrying out the attack in July suggests that the September assault was not an impulsive act arising during the flight, but part of a plan that may have been developing for months.
The case has also renewed scrutiny of Hammami’s online activity. Investigators have found a history of radical and extremist material associated with accounts linked to him, including violent rhetoric and content involving Islamist extremists. Authorities are examining whether those views developed independently or were influenced by individuals or groups with whom he had contact.
No terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, and investigators have not publicly established that Hammami was acting on instructions from any organization. Israeli officials have indicated that they currently believe he may have acted alone, while Emirati investigators continue examining whether anyone assisted or encouraged him.
Flydubai has asked Israeli authorities for permission to resume service to Israel following the incident, but Regev has so far declined to approve the request while the investigation and security review continue. The airline has reportedly been conducting its own internal investigation as well.
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has ordered National Security Council head Shmuel Ben-Ezra to appoint an examiner to conduct a comprehensive review of “all security aspects regarding foreign civil aviation to Israel.”
{Matzav.com}
