By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday Israel will get to the “root” of the co-pilot who engaged in a foiled attempt to crash an Israel-bound flydubai flight and that Israel will “possibly” be participating in the probe into the incident.
DETAILS AND QUOTES
• “We’ll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices, whether Iran was behind it. I think we’ll find out very soon,” Netanyahu said in an interview to Fox News host Sean Hannity on the network’s “Hannity” program
• Israeli officials said earlier that the attacker’s motive aboard flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv remained under investigation
• Hannity asked Netanyahu whether there was any indication of Iranian involvement in the incident
• “It’s too early to say, the attacking pilot is … now being investigated in Saudi Arabia. I think he’ll be taken to the Emirates, where he comes from, or at least where he left, where he flew off from, and we’ll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation,” Netanyahu said
• Passengers on the flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv reached Israel safely on Wednesday after customers and crew foiled a co-pilot’s attempt to crash the aircraft, Israeli officials said, in a struggle that began when he stabbed the pilot and sent the jet plunging nearly 14,000 feet (4,267 m) in less than 30 seconds.
• Passengers and crew entered the cockpit, overpowered the co-pilot and enabled a second pair of flydubai pilots who were aboard the flight to land the jet safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, according to Israeli officials.
• Flydubai had said earlier the underlying reasons for the event remained unknown and warned against “premature speculation.”
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)
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