Israel says co-pilot planned to crash Flydubai jet into Airport

On September 30, 2026, a routine commercial flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv transformed into a high-altitude crisis when an Omani co-pilot launched a violent cockpit assault with an emergency crash axe, aiming to crash the passenger jet into Ben Gurion Airport. While passengers and crew swiftly overpowered the attacker before the Boeing 737 MAX made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, the incident exposed profound vulnerabilities in international aviation security. Eytan Ben-David, national security adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu, confirmed that the co-pilot had spent months plotting the attack, which coincided with the Jewish autumn harvest festival of Sukkot when approximately 2.5 million travelers passed through Israel’s busiest international gateway.

Omani National Plotted to Crash Aircraft into Tel Aviv

Intelligence briefings and regional reports revealed that the suspect plotted to crash the aircraft directly into Ben Gurion Airport or a tower block in central Tel Aviv. The alleged hijacker, identified as 29-year-old Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, deliberately sought employment with flydubai specifically to gain access to routes serving Israel. Sources close to the probe noted that he previously considered executing the attack on an earlier flight in July, but aborted the attempt because he knew an individual among the crew.

The midair violence prompted the United Arab Emirates attorney-general, Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, to formally characterize the attack as a terrorist act. Australian law enforcement agencies also initiated probes into the suspect’s broader overseas connections, as al-Hammami had studied in Australia between 2015 and 2017. Investigators examining his background established that he was likely a lone actor rather than an operative directed by Iran or an organized terror group.

Aviation Vetting Failures Across Multiple Jurisdictions

The infiltration of the flight deck ignited fierce scrutiny regarding background screening protocols across multiple countries. Officials in the region verified that Oman Air, the sultanate’s principal airline, had earlier prohibited al-Hammami from pilot duties and transferred him to an office position because of escalating worries about radical ideologies. Despite these red flags, flydubai hired him in February this year following standard checks that failed to uncover his radical background. Significant regulatory blind spots are underscored by the fact that Israeli aviation rules strictly ban individuals from countries lacking official diplomatic relations, such as Oman, from piloting incoming aircraft.

Confusion among Israeli agencies compounded the security breakdown surrounding the inbound flight. Shin Bet, the internal security service, maintained that oversight and screening of passenger and crew manifests supplied by international airlines fell squarely within the transport ministry’s purview. Conversely, Transport Minister Miri Regev maintained that standard operating procedures did not encompass vetting flight crew members, though passenger and crew lists were submitted to the Israel Tax Authority.

Netanyahu Orders Security Review of Foreign Civil Aviation

In the wake of the thwarted disaster, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the leader of the National Security Council to conduct a comprehensive assessment of all security protocols concerning international commercial flights entering the country. Eytan Ben-David acknowledged that procedures already existed requiring crew lists to be sent to Israel and subjected to security checks, pointing to a 2016 incident where an Iranian pilot flying for Turkish Airlines was detected and sent back to Istanbul. He stated that the failure would now be examined by investigators, adding that the country must improve its enforcement of existing rules.

As global aviation authorities manage the fallout from the emergency landing, international regulators face mounting pressure to balance open international transit with rigorous, standardized cross-border intelligence sharing. Investigators continue to analyze flight crew screening protocols to prevent similar breaches on international carriers operating routes into sensitive regional airspace.