By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2026-10-05 16:50:43 | Updated at 2026-10-05 18:10:09
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The radicalized flydubai co-pilot accused of stabbing his pilot in an attempted mid-flight hijacking planned to crash into an Israeli tower block in a 9/11-like attack, according to reports.
The “lone wolf” attacker, Hamam al-Hammami, intended to murder pilot Smit Machhar and continue on the plane’s scheduled route from Dubai to Tel Aviv unnoticed before flying the plane into one of the Azrieli towers there, The Times of London reported.
The towers are located just three blocks from Israel’s military headquarters, the Kirya, in the central part of the city.
Hammami, 29, told investigators that he also considered approaching the Ben Gurion International Airport for a scheduled landing and then crashing into the terminal when it became impossible to intercept the plane, which is why he attacked Machhar when the flight was just 10 minutes from Israel, according to Israeli broadcaster Channel 12.
Israeli authorities believe he planned the attack long before he was hired by flydubai airline, which hired Hammami less than a year ago.
He had co-piloted a flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year and plotted to hijack and crash the plane then but bailed, sources told Reuters. It’s not clear why he changed his mind, however, it’s believed that Hammami knew someone on board.
Machchhar, who is recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Hammami had prayed in the cockpit just minutes earlier, then suddenly stabbed him in the head and elsewhere last Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Machchhar, 38, believed the plane had taken a hit but realized he was being attacked by his co-pilot when “the blows kept coming, one after the other.”
The attack caused the Boeing 737, which had 174 people onboard, to plummet some 17,000 feet in a matter of minutes as the pilot fought for his life.
Israeli passengers realized that the plane was under attack and jumped into action, tackling and restraining Hammami and aiding the wounded pilot. Two pilots on the flight then took control of the plane and completed an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
It’s under investigation how Hammami, who officials say was a radical Islamist with a history of showing support for al-Qaeda. Israeli intelligence typically vets all pilots flying into the country, and Israel bars pilots from countries with which it has no diplomatic ties, like Oman.
Hammami was educated in Australia before he returned to his home country where he worked for Oman Air. He was later given another role amid concerns over his radical views, according to reports.
Hammami later became a pilot with the UAE’s fydubai but his background check may only have extended to any criminal convictions, a Gulf expert told The Times of London.
“I tried to get hired by all the airlines,” he reportedly told investigators in the UAE. “I checked which ones flew to Tel Aviv. That’s why I chose flydubai. I planned [the operation] even before I was hired.”
Netanyahu has said that Hammami was clearly “suicidal” and begged the crew to kill him after he was tied up with a headphone cord.
One former senior Mossad official denied to the newspaper that the spy group was to blame for the oversight, but Israeli intelligence has been criticized by experts for the apparent lapse.
In Israel, there is reportedly finger-pointing between the ministry of transportation, Mossad, its domestic security agency Shin Bet and other bodies.
Netanyahu said officials are looking for the “loophole” that allowed the co-pilot to slip through the security cracks.
Investigators suspect al-Hammami was a “lone wolf” rather than someone carrying out orders of a terror group, a source told the Jerusalem Post.
Officials are still questioning him in the UAE, where he is expected to face the death penalty.
