Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said investigations suggest that the man who stabbed his fellow pilot and attempted to take control of a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”.
The Flydubai plane plunged more than 17,000ft (5,200m) about two hours into its journey on Wednesday before passengers and crew overpowered the attacker and regained control of the aircraft, allowing it to land safely.
Speaking to Fox News, Netanyahu also said it was looking “very likely” that the attacker, whom he identified as an Omani national, “was going to down the plane”.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) state news agency reported that investigations had begun to determine “whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose”.
The co-pilot is currently being questioned in Saudi Arabia, where the plane made an emergency landing. However, UAE officials said they have jurisdiction over the incident because the aircraft is registered there and flies under its flag.
Netanyahu told Fox that after the attacker was subdued and tied up by passengers and crew, he was “calling out to the aircrew ‘kill me, kill me’, so it’s clear he was suicidal that’s not a question”.
“And with all the passengers in there, and if you couple that with what I just told you about the Islamist tendencies, that radicalisation that were found in his background, I think … that’ll give us a pretty good clue but again I don’t make final conclusions yet but that’s the indications we have now.”
Netanyahu was also asked earlier on the same network whether there was any indication that Iran was involved. He replied: “It’s too early to say”.
The attacker was arrested in Saudi Arabia and is expected to be transferred to the UAE, Netanyahu said.
Both Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the stabbed pilot, Indian national Capt Smit Machchhar, as a “hero”.
India’s ambassador to the UAE, Deepak Mittal, visited Captain Machchhar in hospital on Thursday. The Indian Mission said on social media that he was “in good health and recovering well”.
The Indian government has praised Smit Machchhar for his “immense courage”.
Preliminary findings from a separate Israeli investigation into the incident suggest that the alleged attacker intended to crash the plane, an Israeli security source told BBC Arabic.
The source said the investigation, led by Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, interviewed passengers after they arrived in Tel Aviv to establish what had happened on the plane.