Flydubai attacker transferred to UAE for investigation amid increasing indications of Islamist motive

The Omani pilot who attempted to crash a flydubai plane headed for Tel Aviv on Wednesday was transferred from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates for the continuation of his investigation on Thursday.

Saudi authorities said that both the attacker, as well as the Indian pilot who tried to fight him off, received medical clearance to be transported to Abu Dhabi.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a first official assessment of the terrorist’s motive on Thursday, telling Fox News that “we do know he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” pointing to “personal information” that has come to light.

This was confirmed by initial findings from the Saudi investigation that were passed to Israeli authorities, Channel 12 News reported. The report further noted that the UAE is angry at Israel due to several officials “rushing” to conclusions regarding the motive of the attacker.

Emirati officials reportedly were particularly irritated by comments suggesting that the attack was aimed at undermining the Abraham Accords. An Israeli official said that talking about “terror” is a sensitive topic for the Emirates as it could suggest a lack of control on their part.

President Trump suggested the FlyDubai co-pilot who allegedly tried to crash a passenger plane en route to Israel is linked to Iran, "based on what I'm hearing.”

"We're working on it right now," Trump said Thursday. "They're being very open with us. I would say the answer, based… pic.twitter.com/YUgTZvKV9Y

— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 1, 2026

Speaking about the attacker’s motivation, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel, “This was a person who was willing to commit suicide… His social media accounts [say] clearly that he has been radicalized into jihadist ideology. He talks about killing Jews.”

Netanyahu also said Israeli passengers told him that the pilot pleaded with Emirati crew members to kill him after he had been subdued, suggesting he planned a suicide attack.

“We can’t say for sure until the investigation’s over,” the official continued, “but it certainly seems like he was a suicide actor who was probably going to try to down that plane.”

Given the ongoing tensions, the possible connection of the attacker to the Iranian regime is a particularly sensitive question.

Asked about this on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters, “We're working on it right now. 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.“

However, when asked by another reporter whether Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had planted the pilot, or whether he was radicalized “some other way,” Trump only replied, “Could have been, yeah.”

Former Mossad official Oded Ailam, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), told CNN that it is not usual that no actor has so far claimed responsibility for the attempted attack.

“This is the usual pattern in such cases, no one wants to take responsibility for a failed operation. Of course, the Irnains are the usual suspects but in that case I’m not that certain that Iran is standing behind it, it looks more—and I have to be very cautious because the investigation is going on—that it looks more like a lone ranger operation, meaning the copilot was inspired by Iran… but not necessarily was Iran conducting this sort of operation.”

Ailam explained, “At this point I don’t see a reason for Iran to take such an extreme measure in their confrontation with the U.S. and Israel.”

Meanwhile, first voices in Israel are demanding that the Omani pilot should be extradited to Israel for a trial. Despite full diplomatic relations, Abu Dhabi and Jerusalem do not have  a bilateral extradition treaty.

“Someone who planned to crash a plane and murder 180 Israelis should be extradited to Israel and pay the heaviest price here,” demanded National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

“Anyone who tries to murder or harm Israelis will be pursued by the State of Israel and held to account anywhere in the world,” he added.

Also Thursday, Channel 12 reported that the Omani attacker was only able to pilot a plane headed for Israel because security agencies were negligent and didn’t enforce an existing ban on pilots from unfriendly states.

Under the Abraham Accords, no pilots from countries without diplomatic relations with Jerusalem were supposed to be allowed to fly to Tel Aviv from the UAE. However, the channel reported that dozens of Omani pilots were allowed to fly into Israel over the past years, after Israel trusted foreign airlines with enforcing the ban without double checking.

An anonymous airline industry official accused the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, arguing it “has all the means to know, within five minutes, who all of the pilots on the Dubai airline are, and they simply chose to turn a blind eye. In Israel, they expected the airline to be reliable enough, so they didn’t conduct reviews in recent years.”

This is despite a standing ban by Shin Bet, that was recently extended further, preventing Israeli airlines from landing in the UAE due to security concerns.