A flydubai co-pilot accused of attempting to hijack a flight carrying 174 people to Israel by stabbing the captain was described by a colleague as a religious extremist who refused to shake hands with women.
The co-pilot, whose identity has not been publicly released, was an Omani national who had worked for the airline for less than a year. Israel’s defense minister described Wednesday’s incident as “a jihadist terrorist attack.”
A fellow pilot told Israel’s Channel 16 journalist Yosef Yisrael that the man displayed “very strange behavior,” particularly in his religious practices, which appeared unusual in the environment around him.
“For instance, he used to pray a lot, and would not shake hands with women,” Yisrael said, relaying the anonymous pilot’s account.
The colleague accused flydubai, a sister airline of Emirates, of having “betrayed” Israel by employing the pilot. Other people have claimed the co-pilot appeared intent on crashing the aircraft in an attack reminiscent of 9/11.
“There is no other way to put it, we hired the services of a terrorist and nearly caused the deaths of 180 people,” the colleague reportedly told the journalist.
“Usually only Emiratis fly to Israel. It is not clear how he got on this flight,” the pilot reportedly added.
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Questions remain over how the Omani national was assigned to the flydubai route to Tel Aviv. The aircraft was ultimately brought down in Saudi Arabia by two off-duty pilots.
Pilots flying into Israel must hold passports from countries that maintain diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. Israel and Oman do not have diplomatic relations.
Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev called on the country’s Civil Aviation Authority to examine whether the United Arab Emirates violated its aviation agreement with Israel, the Times of Israel reported Wednesday. The call came hours after two relief pilots landed the aircraft in Saudi Arabia.
“This is a clear breach of the agreement,” a Transportation Ministry source told the Jerusalem Post, while also urging Israel’s Security Agency to investigate.
Flydubai flights to and from Israel have been suspended temporarily, while Israeli authorities are strengthening security screening for pilots.
“Every pilot that is going to be flying into Israel, we are going to know the pilots’ identities, know who they are, and do some type of security check,” Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, said.
“Anywhere that an Israeli is going to be flying into Israel. Our job right now is to do our best — even if they’re not on Israeli airlines — to make sure that those security procedures are much higher.”
With Post wires.
