▶ Watch Video: Israel now describes FlyDubai attacker as a “lone wolf” extremist
The FlyDubai alleged attempted hijacking was likely a lone-wolf attack, an early investigation by Israel shows, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investigation is still in full swing and all avenues are still being explored, the people familiar told CBS News.
The flight Wednesday from Dubai to Tel Aviv was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the flight captain and attempted to crash the aircraft, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passengers on board the plane and the flight captain have said.
The captain was able to fight off the co-pilot long enough to unlock the cockpit door. A group of Israeli passengers and FlyDubai staff then overpowered the co-pilot, and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to gain control of the aircraft and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
The co-pilot is currently in the United Arab Emirates, where he is undergoing a second round of interrogation after first being questioned by Saudi authorities when the plane made its emergency landing. Israel has sent its own representatives to the UAE to participate in the investigation.
President Trump suggested Thursday that the co-pilot may be linked to Iran, “based on what I’m hearing.”
“We’re working on it right now,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re being very open with us. I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is yes. But we’re working on it right now.”
Netanyahu told CBS News on Wednesday that the co-pilot’s motives are still unknown.
“I don’t think it was a hijacking,” Netanyahu told “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil, adding, “I think it looks like a suicide attempt.”
Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Netanyahu said Israel knew the co-pilot “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” based on “personal information” gathered during ongoing questioning. He did not offer any further information on the alleged indoctrination, but added to Fox that the attacker was “suicidal,” and that after he was subdued by other crew members and passengers, he shouted: “Kill me, kill me!”
The co-pilot of the flight has not yet been publicly identified, although multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News on Friday that his name is Hamam al Hamami.
Al Hamami worked for a short time for Oman Air, where he entered new pilot training. Surveillance by the Omani government discovered that he was visiting radical websites, the sources said. Oman Air then transferred him to an office job.
One of the sources said the pilot resigned from his job at Oman Air after being placed on desk duty. He left the airline around 2024.
At one point, sources said, al Hamami posted a video of El Al Israeli Airlines planes in Dubai with a photo at the end of the clip showing Ayman al-Zawahiri, a well-known al Qaeda leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2022.
Al Hamami moved to Dubai, and FlyDubai hired him without vetting him with the Omani government, the sources told CBS News.
Al Hamami is an Omani citizen but was not born in Oman, the sources said. He lived most of his life outside Oman, according to the sources, who disclosed that his mother is Syrian and his father is Omani.
The Omani government has not publicly confirmed his nationality.
The sources said it is possible he had dual citizenship because that could explain how he was allowed to fly to Israel.
