An attempted Israeli flight hijacking incident that occurred last month was originally aimed at a major airport used by some 90,000 people daily, investigators revealed.
The incident nearly turned into a ‘second 9/11 terrorist attack’ utilizing a commercial passenger aircraft.
According to NBC News on the 6th, Hammam Al-Hammami, the co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 traveling from Dubai to Israel on September 30, attempted to hijack the plane to breach Israeli air defense networks and crash it into Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv and nearby buildings.
Al-Hammami reportedly confessed to this plan during an investigation by United Arab Emirates (UAE) law enforcement authorities.
The Omani national is accused of attacking Captain Smeet Makhchar with an emergency axe in an attempt to seize control of the cockpit. Immediately following the attack, the aircraft dropped approximately 14,126 feet in just 29 seconds, but a disaster was averted thanks to the swift intervention of crew members and passengers.
It was confirmed that Al-Hammami had shown warning signs of terrorist tendencies driven by extremist ideologies even prior to this incident.
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources, that Al-Hammami had previously been banned from flying by Omani authorities due to concerns that he had embraced radical ideologies.
Despite this record, how he managed to be employed as a co-pilot for a flight bound for Israel remains unclear.
The British daily newspaper The Guardian reported that Al-Hammami had originally planned a terror attack in July, but failed to execute it because a friend of his was on board as a crew member.
Experts believe that Al-Hammami secured employment with flydubai specifically to carry out this terror attack on the Israel route.
Following the incident, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the National Security Council (NSC) to conduct a comprehensive review of overall civil aviation security. Vice President JD Vance also emphasized that “that person should never have been flying an airplane,” noting that the U.S. is also reviewing relevant procedures to prevent dangerous individuals from operating aircraft.
Meanwhile, according to the Israel Airports Authority (IAA), approximately 1.13 million people used Ben Gurion International Airport during the major Jewish holiday of Sukkot from September 22 to October 4.
