Melbourne Islamic preacher linked to flydubai terrorist condemns ‘false accusations’
Omani copilot Hamam al-Hammami, inspired by 9/11 in his quest to crash plane of Israelis, attended Samir 'Abu Hamza' Mohtadi's community center, UAE prosecutor says
SYDNEY, Australia – A Melbourne man whose Islamic community center has been linked by prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates to the copilot who attacked the captain of a flydubai jet destined for Tel Aviv has hit out at “false accusations.”
The Omani suspect, Hamam al-Hammami, is now in custody in the UAE. He had drawn inspiration from Al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 suicide attacks, and carried out his attempt “with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life,” according to the Emirati prosecutor’s findings published by state media last week.
The prosecutor said the copilot first became radicalized while studying in Australia “through reading extremist literature and following online content glorifying terrorist organizations and suicide attacks.”
The prosecutor alleged he was acquainted there with an organization known as “My Center” managed by a man called Abu Hamza, also named by local media as Samir Mohtadi.
Mohtadi, who is of Lebanese background, has given multiple sermons preaching against Israel, declaring Zionists to be “scavengers” and “bloodsuckers” who needed to be defeated.
Neither “My Center” nor Mohtadi are accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
The FlyDubai hijacker says he he met people tied to My Centre, an Islamic centre in Melbourne.
Its leader, Sheikh Samir Mohtadi: "These Zionists are not normal. They are bloodsucking human beings, they're scavengers. They're not human, I swear by Allah." pic.twitter.com/LzppLc0cL5
— Yehuda Teitelbaum (@chalavyishmael) October 11, 2026
In a video posted on social media, Mohtadi struck back at what he called “false accusations.”
“Right through the ages… those who’re righteous, they’ve always been attacked, abused, accused, killed, imprisoned — and this is the way it is,” he said.
“The best thing sometimes is not to say anything,” he added. “They’re going to continue accusing you… making false accusations.”
He did not comment directly on the UAE prosecutor’s claims.
The aircraft was in Saudi airspace on September 30 when the copilot attacked the captain with a crash axe, typically kept in the cockpit for use during emergencies.
The badly injured Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, managed to open the cockpit door. Hammami was then overwhelmed by Israeli passengers and two other pilots who were on board and landed the aircraft safely in Saudi Arabia. The suspect was transferred to the UAE, flydubai’s home country.
During the incident, the airliner plunged 16,000 feet (4,900 meters) in 30 seconds. It is thought that once he realized his plan to reach Tel Aviv was lost, Hammami put the plane into a dive in an attempt to crash it. Passengers have described him attempting to destroy cockpit equipment as they fought to subdue him.
Hebrew media reports have said Hammami was at Ben Gurion Airport several times in recent months after flying in with flydubai. He told investigators that when he came in June, he devoted his entire focus to collecting intelligence and planning his attack, according to Hebrew outlets.
He then plotted to attack in July, but ended up canceling his plan at the last moment as he was friends with one of the crew members on that flight.
Police and intelligence services in Australia have said they are investigating the copilot’s links to the country.
Police in New Zealand said last week he had spent time in the country on a six-month student visa, where he completed a portion of his flight training, national broadcaster RNZ said.
Israel-UAE meeting said scrapped, amid flydubai probe
Separately, a planned meeting between Israeli Transportation Ministry officials and Emirati officials slated for this week has reportedly been called off.
According to Channel 13 news, because the meeting was called off, the findings of the Emirati probe into the thwarted flydubai terror attack two weeks ago will not be presented to Israeli authorities.
The TV network reported that it had received conflicting information as to the reason for the canceled meeting.
According to one version of events, Channel 13 said, the UAE canceled the meeting because it did not want the attendance of Transportation Minister Miri Regev to be seen as political. A separate scenario reported by the TV channel said that Regev herself called off the meeting for unknown reasons.