The would-be terrorist who attempted to take over a FlyDubai airliner earlier in the week, presumably with intent to crash it, is now in Israel. He's being interrogated, and we suspect, none too gently. In an interview on the Fox News morning program, Fox & Friends, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated one thing they have learned: The co-pilot who attempted the takeover had undergone Islamic radical indoctrination and terrorist training.
The copilot who stabbed the pilot in the cockpit of FlyDubai flight 1073 was an Omani national who went through "Islamist radical indoctrination," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed in a Thursday interview with Fox & Friends.
"The attacker, the copilot who attacked the captain, is now being interrogated, but here's what we do know: First, we know that, he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination," Netanyahu told Fox & Friends.
"That appears to be something we're gathering from the information – his personal information," he added
Netanyahu said the pilot slipped through a loophole in a rule that states pilots flying to Israel can't be from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
"Well, he was an Omani national and we have constraints that say you can't have pilots from countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel," he told Fox & Friends.
At the moment there hasn't been any information released as to where the attacker underwent this indoctrination, although, in that part of the world, there are a lot of possibilities.
As for that loophole: This seems a rather large gap for this goblin to have slithered through, although thanks to the heroism of the plane's captain and passengers, he ended up being thwarted; it could have very easily ended up otherwise. Once again, though, this is a reminder that the security forces and even the citizens of every nation have to get it right every time, but a would-be terror attacker only has to get it right once.
A piece in Thursday's Jerusalem Post has some more details:
Two Israeli security officials said Israel's initial assessment is that the co-pilot, identified by Israeli officials as an Omani national, was likely acting alone, though the investigation was still ongoing.
The flight plunged more than 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds during the incident as it flew over Saudi Arabia on the journey from the United Arab Emirates to Israel, according to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
As of this writing, Israel hasn't made any statements about the origins of this would-be terrorist other than that he is an Omani national. Oman has not made any official statement on the matter. Again as of this writing, there's no indication of Iranian involvement, although PM Netanyahu commented, "We'll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices, whether Iran is behind it," noting that Israel will find that out "very soon."
If, by any chance, Iran is involved, and if that involvement can be established, that may end up with unfortunate results for what's left of Iran's military and their civil leadership. That, however, remains to be seen, and as noted, this part of the world is fertile ground for growing these kinds of terrorist goblins.
This remains a developing story. Stay tuned.