Netanyahu says flydubai co-pilot indoctrinated as UAE probes 'terror' link

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the co-pilot behind an attack on a flight to Israel had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination" as the United Arab Emirates said it was probing a possible terror link.

The dramatic events on Wednesday saw passengers reroute the flydubai plane to stop it from crashing, making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia before the flight's mostly Israeli passengers were flown home to a hero's welcome.

"We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination," Netanyahu told the "Fox & Friends" TV show without elaborating, adding that the co-pilot was being interrogated.

The Israeli premier said "the attacker, he calls out to the aircrew, 'Kill me, kill me'", making it "clear he was suicidal".

His comments about the alleged attacker, whom the captain and passengers managed to overpower, came as the UAE chief prosecutor announced Thursday that an investigation had been launched, including the possibility of "terrorist activity or intent".

Netanyahu earlier credited the flydubai pilot, Indian national Smit Machchhar, as well as passengers, with averting catastrophe, after a co-pilot allegedly stabbed him and tried to crash the plane.

Saudi Arabia's interior ministry said the co-pilot had been transferred from the kingdom to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday morning accompanied by an "Emirati security team", adding that their initial investigation showed he had attacked the plane's captain.

Passengers described rushing the cockpit and a fight for control after the plane suddenly plummeted, losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website.

Israeli officials have called the incident "an attempted terrorist attack", though in an earlier interview with CBS News, Netanyahu had not ruled out the possibility that mental health was to blame.

Netanyahu told Fox News that a disaster similar to the September 11, 2001 attacks "with bodies scattered in the desert" had been averted.

- 'Heroes' -

Netanyahu said he expected the United Arab Emirates to take the lead in the investigation, but that Israel would join the probe.

He said the co-pilot was an Omani national and that Israel would look at how he was able to work on a flight to the country.

"We have constraints that say that you can't have pilots from countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel. Obviously he was able to go through that. How do we make sure that we screen pilots in advance?" Netanyahu told Fox News.

He said the pilots who collected passengers from Saudi Arabia after the incident had undergone background checks.

Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, called it a "jihadist" attack, while Defence Minister Israel Katz also described the incident as "an attempted jihadist terror attack".

Airline flydubai has said all the passengers -- of whom 166 out of 174 were Israeli, according to media reports -- were safe, but that the reasons for the altercation were unknown.

"During the flight, as they approached the country, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot, and apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board," Netanyahu said in a video message.

He later hailed the wounded pilot, Machchhar, "for his extraordinary bravery".

The Indian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates met with the wounded captain, with the embassy saying he was in "good health and recovering well".

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described him as a "HERO", saying his valour helped save lives.

- 'Out of control' -

AFPTV images showed another flydubai plane carrying the passengers touch down at Tel Aviv airport, hours after their initial flight was diverted to Saudi Arabia's Tabuk.

Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon described the plane as being "pretty much out of control" as the incident unfolded over Jordan.

"The co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane," she told reporters.

"It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralised him."

The airline said it was another "on-duty flydubai crew travelling on the flight who diverted and landed the aircraft safely" and that it was suspending flights to Israel while an investigation took place.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Thursday he would present "heroism" awards to five Israelis who helped overpower the co-pilot and prevented him from crashing the plane.

US President Donald Trump, after discussing the incident with Netanyahu, said: "It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job."

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