UAE Links Flydubai Hijacking Attempt to Radicalization in Australia

An alleged attempt to seize a Flydubai passenger aircraft bound for Tel Aviv has prompted investigations into aviation security and the radicalization of its Omani co-pilot, whom United Arab Emirates officials say developed extremist views while studying in Australia. The incident aboard flight FZ1073 on September 30 involved more than 170 passengers and crew, most of them Israelis, and has raised questions about pilot screening and international counterterrorism measures.

UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi said the 29-year-old co-pilot, widely identified as Hamam al-Hammami, allegedly attacked the captain in the cockpit with an emergency crash axe and attempted to divert the aircraft toward a suicide attack at Tel Aviv's airport. The injured captain and other crew members were involved in the struggle before passengers helped overpower the attacker. The aircraft subsequently landed in Saudi Arabia.

According to the UAE state news agency Wam, investigators traced the man's alleged radicalization to 2017, when he was studying in Australia. RMIT University in Melbourne confirmed that he had studied there but left before completing his engineering qualification. Australian authorities have separately confirmed an investigation into his connections to the country.

Al-Shamsi said, "The findings indicated that signs of his drift towards extremism and terrorism first emerged in 2017, while he was studying in Australia," according to Wam.

The investigation also examined the suspect's reported exposure to extremist material online and his physical preparation for the alleged attack. Wam said he told investigators that he had acted alone, although authorities were continuing to verify that claim.

Australian media reported that the man received a student visa in 2014 and studied in Australia from 2015 to 2017. The Sydney Morning Herald also reported that posts from his deleted X account described years spent studying abroad in Australia, Britain and New Zealand as "the golden years of my religious commitment".

Security concerns have extended beyond Australia. Regional officials said the co-pilot had previously been barred from flying by Oman's national carrier, Oman Air, and reassigned to an administrative position because of concerns about his extremist views. He was subsequently hired by Flydubai after standard security checks that, according to those officials, did not assess his background for possible radicalization.

The case has also raised questions about Israeli aviation regulations, which prohibit pilots who are citizens of countries without formal diplomatic relations with Israel, including Oman, from operating flights to the country.

Australian authorities confirmed that the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, comprising the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, was investigating the man's connections to Australia.

Aviation security measures have come under renewed scrutiny following the incident. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed his national security council to review security procedures for foreign civil aviation serving Israel. Vice President JD Vance also said the United States was reviewing flight security procedures.

Bryan Stern, chairman and CEO of Grey Bull Rescue and a first responder to the September 11, 2001, attacks, warned that Western counterterrorism strategies may not adequately address increasingly sophisticated threats. Speaking to Fox News Digital, Stern argued that the attempted hijacking highlighted weaknesses in how authorities assess hostile networks and anticipate attacks.

"They’re good at chess," Stern said of extremist adversaries, contrasting their approach with Western preparedness.

He added, "And we’re, if we’re lucky, playing checkers – if we’re lucky – and I would argue we’re not even playing checkers that well."

Stern said the alleged attack demonstrated the need to study adversaries' methods more closely. He described the incident as a warning for international aviation security and Western counterterrorism policy.

"They understand us significantly more than we understand them," Stern said.

Drawing on three decades of experience, Stern said governments needed a stronger understanding of "asymmetric warfare" and the capabilities of extremist groups.

"The reason why a football coach watches game tapes is not to watch his own team play, it's to watch the bad guys play," he said.

"We gotta start watching some game tapes," Stern added.

Stern said his organization's work in conflict zones had given him direct exposure to the operations and personnel of extremist organizations. He cited contacts and encounters involving groups including Hezbollah, the Taliban, ISIS and ISIS-K.

"We conduct these operations in these places still to this very day," he said.

He also said, "We're actually on the ground, meaning I know people in Hezbollah, I know people in the Taliban. I know people in ISIS. I know people in ISIS-K. I've met with radical jihadi weirdos and whack jobs personally."

Discussing the broader threat, Stern argued that hostile actors were increasingly confident and capable of exploiting weaknesses in security systems.

"The bad guys are completely not afraid. They're completely emboldened. They have got the whole world to hate Israel, the whole world to hate us," he said.

"It's a tough problem," Stern added.

Stern recalled a government exercise that asked participants to consider how al-Qaeda might plan a major attack. He said the exercise had focused on the possibility of multiple hijackings and attacks against American buildings.

"I was asked years ago when I was still with the government," Stern said.

"A team was put together and the question before the court was, if you were al-Qaeda, what would you do?" he added.

Describing his response to that exercise, Stern said, "What I came up with was ... I would get 19 hijackers, and I would hijack four airplanes, and I would fly them into buildings in America, and then issue a communique that said: 20 years of war, you are no safer today than you were before – that for TSA, and Homeland Security, and Iraq, and Afghanistan and all the different things, you are actually no safer, America, today than you were before," he said.

He argued that the scenario demonstrated the risks of failing to anticipate an adversary's strategy.

"We're seeing, sadly," he said, "that academic hypothetical situation has now become a reality, or certainly a possibility."

Stern also argued that military force alone could not eliminate the ideological motivations behind terrorism.

"you can't bomb your way into peace," Stern said.

"They have been in holy war against us," he added.

He continued, "We have now engaged in a holy war against them."

Stern cited the killing of an Iranian religious leader during Ramadan to illustrate his concerns about the potential consequences of escalating conflict.

"On Ramadan, the holiest month of the year in Islam, on the first day, which is the holiest day, we detonated the leader of the Shia faith, the Ayatollah," he said, likening the event to "if somebody assassinated the pope on Easter Sunday while he's giving mass at the Vatican."

He warned that investigators could face difficulties identifying potential attackers before they act, including individuals who hold American passports. Stern also referred to suspects released during the RAF Fairford investigation as an example of the challenges involved in determining when a threat may become an actionable crime.

"Until I actually squeeze the triggers, I haven't committed a crime yet," he said.

"Now give me an airplane," he added.

"That's the problem," Stern said.

He distinguished today's adversaries from groups that American forces previously encountered in Afghanistan, arguing that some current threats involve better-resourced and more technically capable organizations.

"We need to remember we are very used to shooting people like the Taliban who don't know what plumbing is – who literally for years lived in caves until we showed up and gave them stuff," Stern said.

He added that the groups he was discussing possessed considerable resources and operational expertise.

"The bad guys that we're talking about today are extremely sophisticated. They are extremely resourced, extremely resourceful. They're very intelligent, they're very smart, and they're very good at what they do," Stern said.

Stern also pointed to the long history of Persian civilization when discussing how adversaries might view the United States' relatively short history.

"The Persian Empire is the only empire of empires who have been all the way on top and all the way defeated at the bottom – six times," he said.

He added, "They're looking at us going, you're 250 years old. How adorable. You're cute, America."

Stern, who survived the September 11 attacks while serving as a first responder, warned that future terrorist violence could exceed the scale of previous attacks. He said a major incident could prompt renewed public questions about how security failures occurred.

"What will happen, probably is we'll get attacked – just like 9/11, we'll get attacked," he said.

"We'll say, 'Oh my God, how did this happen?' People will wake up," Stern added.

He warned that the consequences of escalating ideological conflict could be severe, saying, "I promise you there will come a time, it will be, you know, June 26 or whatever, where we're gonna read about 9/11, and we're gonna say, 'Wow, that wasn't so bad, only 3,000 died,'"

He attributed that concern to what he viewed as a widening conflict between religious and political adversaries. His remarks came as investigators continued examining the Flydubai incident and aviation authorities reviewed existing security procedures.