flydubai flight co-pilot who wanted to crash the aircraft in Israel will likely face death penalty, according to a report by New York Post. The co-pilot was identified as 29-year-old Hamam al-Hammami, who is an Omani national.
al-Hammami has told investigators he wanted to hijack the flight FZ1073 that was travelling to Tel Aviv from Dubai. He said he wanted to crash the flight at the Ben Gurion airport or at least target one of its tower blocks in Tel Aviv.
“I tried to get hired by all the airlines,” he said, as cited by New York Post. “I checked which ones flew to Tel Aviv. Thatโs why I chose flydubai. I planned [the operation] even before I was hired… The dream was to crash into Ben-Gurion [Tel Aviv] airport.”
The investigators suspect that al-Hammami, who has so far been interrogated by officials of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was a “lone wolf”. His interrogation would likely continue and further details will soon be revealed.
Netanyahu orders security review of flights to Israel
The flydubai incident has brought an attention to security of flights to Israel. Now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a security review of international flights to Israel.
Netanyahu “has instructed the head of the National Security Council, Shmuel Ben Ezra, to appoint an examiner to conduct a thorough review of all security aspects of foreign civil aviation to Israel,” a statement by Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
Calls have mounted in Israel for an investigation into the security lapse that allowed the Omani co-pilot of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday to attempt to bring down the aircraft after stabbing the Indian captain.
Israeli media has reported that the co-pilot intended to crash the aircraft on Israeli territory. Critics have focused on how a pilot from a country with no diplomatic relations with Israel was cleared to operate a flight bound for Tel Aviv.
However, Transport Minister Miri Regev rejected responsibility for the failure, saying security oversight for flights operated by foreign airlines falls under the remit of the Mossad and Shin Bet, Israel’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies.ย
(With inputs from AFP)
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