Update: New Discoveries in Dubai Hijack Plane
A captain’s resistance and the quick action of passengers and off-duty pilots stopped what Israeli sources describe as a 9/11-style attack. Now several countries are asking how the man in the right-hand seat got there.
On 30 September, a Fly Dubai flight to Tel Aviv turned into a fight for control of the cockpit. Five days later, a multinational investigation is piecing together what the Omani co-pilot allegedly planned and how he passed through the safeguards meant to stop someone like him.
The most uncomfortable question is how he ended up in a cockpit at all.
- Oman Air, 2024: Senior officials cited in news reports say he was found with extremist material, was flagged as a security risk and was grounded for a year. He was reportedly moved to an administrative role rather than dismissed.
- Career moves: He left Oman’s aviation sector in February 2025. About four months later he joined Royal Air Maroc, reportedly staying about seven months. Around February 2026 he moved to Fly Dubai, where he flew for roughly eight months.
- Online footprint: CNN’s analysis of nearly 3,000 deleted posts from an account attributed to him shows hardline religious views and attacks on mixed-gender workplaces. A separate set of videos reportedly included cockpit footage and ended with images of al-Qaeda-linked figures, among them Ayman al-Zawahiri.
- Syria: A Saudi magazine calls his time in Syria during the civil war the most mysterious chapter of his life. Security sources say Omani authorities believed he was influenced by extremists there. There is no documented detail on when he went, where he lived or how long he stayed.
Al-Qaeda’s media arm has since hailed the attempt and drawn a parallel with 9/11.
Who was supposed to catch it?
Israel has been dragged into an argument over who vets foreign crews.
Under rules in place since 2023, airlines must send crew and passenger lists 48 hours before arrival to a unit within the Israel Tax Authority, with data also meant to reach the Shin Bet, the police and the Mossad. The Tax Authority says it received the Fly Dubai lists but referred questions to the Transportation Ministry.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev says vetting foreign crews is not her ministry’s job and that it received no list or warning. The Shin Bet says the ministry is responsible. The ministry’s aviation security chief has said it relies on local checks and cannot screen everyone on every foreign flight. Reports say the Shin Bet gave up foreign-flight security in 2021, the state controller flagged the gap in 2024, and responsibility was assigned to the ministry in 2025. Opposition leaders are calling for Regev’s resignation. She belongs to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, so the row is reaching him.
A multinational investigation
- UAE: leading the criminal and counter-terrorism investigation, which is examining his motives, background and possible international links. Officials have called the attack terrorism and say he will face trial under counter-terrorism laws, but they have otherwise said little publicly.
- Israel: reviewing his background and its own security protocols, and sharing information with the UAE.
- Saudi Arabia: detained him after the landing at Tabuk and questioned him before handing him to the UAE.
- Australia: looking at the years he spent there, to see whether radicalisation could have occurred during that time.
What comes next?
Aviation experts are calling for a global system to share information on pilots dismissed or grounded over security concerns. They note that every regulator uses its own licensing norms and that nothing flags a risk when a pilot changes employer or country.
There is also admiration for the captain. One commentator said that for every Al-Hamami, there are ten pilots like him. Netanyahu has invited him to Israel to light a torch at next year’s Independence Day ceremony.
Many questions are still open. Did Fly Dubai know about the Oman Air episode? Was the information shared between authorities? And could the attack have been prevented?
