Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Omani co-pilot accused of stabbing another pilot and attempting to crash a Flydubai flight on Wednesday had been “radicalized into jihadist ideology,” while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for his extradition to Israel for prosecution.
The Omani pilot “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox and Friends.
Netanyahu:
We know that the attacker pilot underwent “Islamist radical indoctrination.”
pic.twitter.com/KZ1VLpbYTE— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 1, 2026
The suspect is being held and interrogated in Saudi Arabia. Citing passenger accounts, Netanyahu said, “the attacker, he calls out to the aircrew, ‘Kill me, kill me,’” making it “clear he was suicidal.”
Netanyahu said he expects the suspect will, “I assume, very quickly” be transferred to Dubai for questioning. “He’s an Omani national… We’ll join the interrogation and find out what happened there exactly.”
“I think it’s too early to say whether there was Iranian collusion,” he added, while saying he expects more definitive findings soon.
An official told The Times of Israel that the suspect’s social media activity included discussion of killing Jews. The official also cited conversations with passengers who said the attacker asked Emirati crew members to kill him.
“This was a person who was willing to commit suicide,” says the official. “His social media accounts [say] clearly that he has been radicalized into jihadist ideology. He talks about killing Jews.”
“We can’t say for sure until the investigation’s over,” the official continues, “but it certainly seems like he was a suicide actor who was probably going to try to down that plane.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he will ask the security cabinet to pursue the extradition of the co-pilot, who is accused of trying to bring down the Tel Aviv-bound flight carrying mainly Israelis yesterday. He said he will press the Justice Ministry and relevant diplomatic officials to pursue every available avenue for prosecution in Israel.
“Someone who planned to crash a plane and murder 180 Israelis should be extradited to Israel and pay the heaviest price here,” he says. “Anyone who tries to murder or harm Israelis will be pursued by the State of Israel and held to account anywhere in the world.”
