UAE probes 'terror' link in Israel flight brawl

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the co-pilot behind an apparent attack on a flight to Israel had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination" as the United Arab Emirates said it was probing a possible terror link.

The dramatic events on Wednesday saw passengers reroute the flydubai plane to stop it from crashing, making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia before the flight's mostly Israeli passengers were flown home to a hero's welcome.

"We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination," Netanyahu told the "Fox & Friends" TV show without elaborating, adding that the co-pilot, reportedly an Omani national, was being interrogated. The Israeli premier said "the attacker, he calls out to the aircrew, 'Kill me, kill me,'" making it "clear he was suicidal".

His comments about the alleged attacker, who the captain and passengers managed to overpower, came as the UAE chief prosecutor announced Thursday that an investigation had been launched, including the possibility of "terrorist activity or intent".

Netanyahu earlier credited the flydubai pilot, Indian national Smit Machchhar, as well as passengers with averting catastrophe, after a co-pilot allegedly stabbed him and tried to crash the plane.

Passengers described rushing the cockpit and a fight for control after the plane suddenly plummeted, losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website.

Israeli officials have called the incident "an attempted terrorist attack", though in an earlier interview with CBS News, Netanyahu had not ruled out the possibility that mental health was to blame.

Netanyahu said he expected the United Arab Emirates to take the lead in the investigation, but that Israel would join. "He'll be, I assume, moved very quickly to Dubai," Netanyahu told CBS News of the alleged attacker, who was being questioned in Saudi Arabia. Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, called it a "jihadist" attack, while Defence Minister Israel Katz also described the incident as "an attempted jihadist terror attack".