Flydubai attack: Questions mount as Israeli sources cite Gaza motive

The co-pilot accused of attacking the captain of a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv is assessed to have acted alone, according to Israeli sources familiar with the investigation.

Those sources say he told investigators he was retaliating for the Gaza conflict and sought to die as a martyr. 

An Israeli investigative team arrived in the UAE on October 3 to take part in the joint questioning.

Israeli sources said the Omani national, Hammam al-Hammami, had planned the attack long before joining the airline. He allegedly admitted he applied to flydubai after researching airlines that fly directly into Tel Aviv. He also allegedly considered carrying out an attack on one such flight over the past year, but abandoned the plan.

Emirati investigators have reportedly ruled out the involvement of other crew members after questioning them at Israel's request.

On September 30, flydubai Flight FZ1073 was flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv when al-Hammami allegedly attacked the captain in the cockpit and attempted to seize the controls. The plane went into a rapid descent of roughly 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds.

The captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and off-duty crew members to restrain the co-pilot. Reserve pilots landed the plane at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia.

The case has raised questions about how a man allegedly considered a security risk was able to enter the cockpit of a flight to Israel. 

Israel and Oman do not have formal diplomatic relations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on October 1 that Israel has longstanding arrangements with foreign airlines under which pilots from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel are not permitted to operate flights to Israel.

Yet regional officials familiar with the matter told media that, before FZ1073 departed Dubai, the UAE provided Israel with a list of the passengers and crew members, including their nationalities. According to those officials, Israeli authorities raised no objections.

The issue has triggered a dispute among Israeli authorities over who was responsible for checking foreign crew.

Israel's Shin Bet security agency said the Transportation Ministry was responsible. Transportation Minister Miri Regev said aviation security was the responsibility of the security agencies, and that her ministry had not received the crew list or any warning about al-Hammami.

Dvir Rubenstein, who oversees aviation security at the Transportation Ministry, said the ministry relies on local authorities to conduct checks and does not have the tools to independently verify every passenger's identity.

Opposition politicians have accused Netanyahu's government and relevant agencies of negligence.

Questions have also been raised over flydubai's own vetting procedures.

Investigators have reportedly found that al-Hammami had been exposed to radical Islamist ideology and had previously been suspended as a trainee pilot and barred from flying by Oman Air over security risks and extremist views. He had also reportedly faced rejection from another airline during training.

Philip Baum, a visiting professor at Coventry University who specializes in aviation security, said differences between countries' background-checking systems can limit the information available for screening. Cross-border checks, he noted, face "significant limitations."