Flydubai co-pilot who tried to crash plane was ‘religious extremist’ — how was he cleared to fly?

It seems likely that someone at Flydubai was sympathetic to the jihad against Israel and wanted to see this Omani jihadi take down a plane full of Israelis.

WATCH: FlyDubai co-pilot who tried to crash plane was ‘religious extremist’

“Omani hijacker who stabbed fellow pilot ‘was a religious extremist who refused to shake hands with women’: Israel launches probe into how ‘terrorist’ was cleared to fly as Flydubai jets are grounded,” by Isabella Machin, Daily Mail, October 1, 2026:

Israel is probing how a religious extremist from Oman who stabbed his co-pilot during a hijacking described as ‘Israel’s 9/11’ was cleared to fly….

A fellow pilot has also now claimed the assailant – who is believed to be an Omani national – was a religious extremist.

Speaking in Hebrew on Israel’s Channel 16, foreign editor and news anchor Yosef Yisrael described how he spoke to a colleague of the attacker, who wishes to remain anonymous.

In a translated version, Mr Yisrael reads out how the violent pilot ‘was someone characterised by very strange behaviour, especially around religious observances that were out of step with his surroundings [at Flydubai]. For instance, he used to pray a lot, and would not shake hands with women’.

Mr Yisrael said his source ‘expressed contrition’ and said Flydubai had ‘betrayed Israel’.

‘There is no other way to put it, we hired the services of a terrorist and nearly caused the deaths of 180 people,’ Mr Yisrael said the man told him. ‘Usually only Emiratis fly to Israel. It is not clear how he got on this flight.’

Mr Machchhar was hailed for saving the lives of those 174 passengers on board. While cruising mid-air, the hero was able to fight off his co-pilot in the cockpit and his attempts to sabotage the plane’s systems.

Israel is now investigating how the alleged terrorist was cleared to fly the plane bound for Tel Aviv, given Oman has no diplomatic relations with Israel and foreign crew flying into its airspace are strictly controlled.

Flydubai has now grounded all its jets to and from Israel as it probes the incident….

While flying over Saudi Arabia, it briefly issued a code of 7500, signalling unlawful interference or a hijacking. Officials feared the incident could have become another ‘September 11’ attack, adding that passengers had prevented an ‘Israeli 9/11’ by tying up the assailant….

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