Netanyahu warns of retaliation if flydubai attacker was sent
The UAE has launched an investigation into the circumstances and motives.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the suspected attacker aboard a flydubai flight had undergone Islamist radicalization and intended to crash the aircraft with its passengers on board, warning that “whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price”. He came to smash the plane with its passengers on board,” Netanyahu said. Netanyahu had earlier said the attacker was being interrogated and that Israeli investigators had joined the questioning. He also said the initial investigation suggested the co-pilot was suicidal. So, it is clear that he was suicidal and was going to down the plane,” Netanyahu said. Earlier, UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash has described the cockpit attack as a “dangerous terrorist act”, marking a significant official characterisation of the incident. Speaking to ANI, Revach said, “First of all, I don’t think that it might be a terror attack. He also expressed gratitude for Machchhar’s “exceptional behaviour”. Recalling the moment the aircraft began losing altitude, he said: “I knew that the aircraft was going down … I told myself that the door is right there, just open it.
The remarks come as investigators examine whether the assault on Indian Captain Smit Machchhar was directed by an outside party. “As time passes, the picture becomes clearer: the perpetrator underwent Islamist radicalization. “He is lying on the floor and he calls out to the crew ‘kill me, kill me’. However, the motive and any possible outside involvement have not been conclusively established. Additionally, Israel’s Consul General in Mumbai, Yaniv Revach, also condemned the incident as an act of terror. It is a terror attack. So there’s not even a question or a doubt about it. Machchhar, who is recovering in Abu Dhabi, later spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by video call. I had fallen to the ground. I managed to do it and people entered.”