FlyDubai hijacker 'dreamed of crashing plane into Ben-Gurion Airport' and had plotted attack weeks before, interrogation reveals
From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026.
The injured Omani co-pilot, who Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said had undergone "Islamic radical indoctrination" and was suicidal, with Israel probing whether the attack was state-sponsored.
Hamam al-Hammami, the 29-year-old Omani co-pilot who attacked FlyDubai captain Smit Machchhar with a crash axe on a Tel Aviv-bound flight, told interrogators his goal was to crash the plane into Ben-Gurion Airport and cause mass casualties. Al-Hammami had visited the airport as recently as July 2026 to gather intelligence, but aborted an earlier attempt that month after recognising a crew member he knew was on board. He had also considered flying the aircraft into the Azrieli Towers, close to Israel's military headquarters in central Tel Aviv.
Oman Air had barred al-Hammami from flying in 2024 over fears he had adopted extremist views — but FlyDubai never checked with Oman Air before hiring him.
Al-Hammami, who has a Syrian mother and was born in the UAE, studied aviation management via a distance-learning course at Buckinghamshire New University, graduating in 2023.
He is said to have exploited a vetting loophole at the British university, and investigators are still working to determine whether he acted as a lone wolf or had links to extremist networks.
