🔻Netanyahu: FlyDubai flight pilot was influenced by “Islamist extremist teachings”

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, says “investigations” show that one of the pilots of a FlyDubai flight who attacked his fellow pilot with a knife and tried to take control of the flight to Tel Aviv was influenced by “Islamist extremist teachings.”

In remarks Thursday on Fox News, Netanyahu said it appears that “with very high probability,” the attacker—according to him, a national of Oman—intended to bring down the plane.

The statements by Israel’s prime minister about the views and beliefs of the suspected pilot were made while the official news agency of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, 9 Mehr, reported that investigations had begun in the country to find an answer to the question of whether the incident was linked to any kind of terrorist activity or motivation.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Ministry of Interior, the country where the plane made an emergency landing, said the pilot and co-pilot were returned to the UAE on Thursday morning after being cleared by medical teams.