Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Friday that any entity proven to have been involved in the Flydubai plane incident would pay a “very heavy price”, saying investigators were examining whether the co-pilot had received instructions to carry out the attack, without presenting evidence implicating any particular state.
Netanyahu said in a statement: “As time passes, the picture becomes clearer: the attacker underwent a process of radicalisation and came to crash the plane with all its passengers on board.” Referring to the co-pilot who attacked the captain inside the cockpit, he added: “We are investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.” Netanyahu did not name any country that might have been involved in the incident.
Trump and Netanyahu raise possibility of Iranian involvement
He had earlier said that the pilot was from Oman, a claim that has not been confirmed so far, and had not ruled out the possibility that he was suffering from mental health problems. US President Donald Trump, responding to an earlier question about the incident, said he had heard that Iran was involved, adding that it “will be hit very hard” if its involvement is established.
The statements attributed to Trump and Netanyahu presented no evidence proving Iran’s connection to the incident, while the attack’s motives and circumstances remain under investigation. According to Israeli officials and eyewitnesses, the co-pilot attacked the captain, an Indian pilot, while the aircraft was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
They said the co-pilot stabbed the captain inside the cockpit before the latter managed to open its door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker. According to passengers’ accounts, the co-pilot carried out the assault with the aim of bringing down the aircraft, but the captain’s opening of the cockpit door enabled several passengers to intervene and end the attack.
Emergency landing after sharp drop
After the incident, the aircraft made an emergency landing safely in the Saudi city of Tabuk, with no casualties reported. The Flydubai Boeing 737 was carrying 174 passengers on the flight between Dubai and Tel Aviv. Data from FlightRadar24, a website specialising in tracking air traffic, showed that the aircraft descended 17,000 feet in just one minute before successfully landing in Tabuk.
In the UAE, the judiciary confirmed on Thursday that it had begun investigating the plane incident. The public prosecutor ordered it to “verify the extent of its connection to any terrorist activity or purpose, or whether it involved prior planning or direction”, as part of an investigation aimed at determining the circumstances of the assault, the perpetrator’s motives and whether another entity was behind it.
The unsubstantiated allegations against Iran come amid ongoing tensions, after Israel and the United States waged a war against it in February. Netanyahu has previously levelled accusations against Tehran over other incidents, but in his latest remarks he did not identify any country as responsible for the attack on the Flydubai flight.
