Flydubai attacker was reportedly indoctrinated into al-Qaeda ideology

2 October 2026, 8:20 pm

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An ongoing investigation into the copilot who attempted to crash a flydubai plane full of Israeli passengers finds he went through a process of indoctrination, apparently into “al-Qaeda’s ideology,” Channel 12 news reports.

According to the investigation, the copilot held meetings with unspecified religious figures as part of his radicalization, the report says.

The current assessment by investigators is that the decision to attempt to carry out a terror attack was his own, but investigators are working to make sure there are no copycats in other foreign airlines, the report adds.

The Israeli security establishment is approaching this investigation as if the plane actually crashed, the report says.