Israel had names before flydubai FZ1073 took off, failed to flag Omani co-pilot: Report

• 174 people were on the Boeing 737 Max, most of them Israelis.
• 7:05 am: The flight left Dubai on Wednesday, 30 September, and climbed to 34,000ft, according to Flightradar24.
• Just over two hours later: the plane began to descend and fell more than 17,000ft in about two minutes.
• 15,000ft: the height at which the plane levelled out, after passengers and crew overpowered the co-pilot.
• Code 7500: The transponder was set to this code, which signals unlawful interference.
• 2 reserve pilots on board took the controls and landed the jet at Tabuk, in northwest Saudi Arabia, at 9:45 am local time.
• 1 captain, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, was hurt in the cockpit and is now in hospital in Abu Dhabi.

Now the questions are about who knew what before take-off, and why a man who had reportedly been barred from flying in his own country was in the cockpit at all. Haaretz, quoting security sources, reported that Israel’s Transport Ministry and the Mossad were meant to check the crew list. The Israel Tax Authority confirmed it received the list. The Transport Ministry would not say whether it went through it.

What did Israel know before the flight?

According to Haaretz, Israeli government officials received the crew and passenger list ahead of the flight. Here is what is known and what is not:

What is confirmed

• Israeli officials received the list of crew and passengers before the flight.
• The Israel Tax Authority confirmed to Haaretz that the list reached it.
• Security sources told the paper that the Transport Ministry and the Mossad were supposed to check the crew names.
• The Omani co-pilot was not flagged before the flight.

What has not been confirmed

• Whether the Transport Ministry went through the list. It declined to say.
• Whether the Mossad checked the crew names. The part of the Haaretz article seen here does not say.
• Whether any Israeli body raised a concern about the co-pilot before take-off. None has said so publicly.
• Whether Oman told Israel or any airline about its reported concerns over the co-pilot. Al Jazeera reported that it is unclear.

Who is the co-pilot, and what is known about his past?

Three people with knowledge of the matter, including a Gulf diplomat and a Western diplomat, told the AP news agency that the co-pilot is Hamam al-Hammami, an Omani national. They spoke without giving their names.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said Omani authorities had barred him from flying in Oman over concerns about alleged extremist views. It is not clear what those views were, or whether Oman told other countries or airlines. CNN, citing a source and an Israeli official, said he was born in the UAE to a Syrian mother and spent several years there. CNN also quoted a regional diplomatic source who said he had been removed from flight training over similar concerns and moved to another role.

A LinkedIn profile with his name, seen by CNN, says he spent seven years at Oman Air and left in February 2025. It says he joined Royal Air Maroc in June 2025 and left in January 2026. Buckinghamshire New University has confirmed he finished a distance-learning course in aviation management there, and says he did no pilot training with it.

A Gulf diplomat told AP that investigators are trying to learn whether he acted as a “lone wolf” or had links to extremist groups.

What happened on flight FZ1073?

According to Flightradar24, the plane left Dubai at 7:05 am on Wednesday and climbed to 34,000ft. A little over two hours later, it began to descend, and the data showed it fell more than 17,000ft in about two minutes before it climbed and dropped again.

Inside the cockpit, the co-pilot had attacked Indian pilot Machchhar. The UAE says he used the emergency crash axe, a tool kept in cockpits to cut through the aircraft in an emergency. Machchhar later told Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from a hospital in Abu Dhabi, that he was on the floor and could feel the plane dropping. He said he knew it was the “last chance to do something”. He told PM Modi he reached the door and opened it, and people came in.

Passengers and crew overpowered the co-pilot. The plane levelled out at about 15,000ft, and its transponder was set to code 7500, which signals unlawful interference. Two reserve pilots on board took the controls and landed the jet at Tabuk at 9:45 am local time. Saudi authorities said Captain Machchhar was taken to a hospital and then airlifted to Abu Dhabi after medical clearance.

What is the UAE saying, and what happens next?

UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi said on Saturday that investigators found the co-pilot had begun what he called a “terrorist act.” He said the co-pilot attacked the captain with the crash axe and tried to take control of the aircraft. On Thursday, he had ordered investigators to check whether the incident was tied to terrorist activity or intent, or to planning or direction by others.

Abu Dhabi is leading the case because the plane is registered in the UAE and flies under its flag. Al-Shamsi said UAE law covers crimes on board even outside the country. Investigators are looking at the motive, any links to others, and physical and digital evidence. The UAE has not said what the motive was, or whether it thinks al-Hammami acted alone.

UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said on X that the attack shows the region’s fight against extremism is not over. Flydubai flights to Israel remain suspended while the investigation is ongoing.

Did Netanyahu miss a warning before 7 October as well?

The questions about the Flydubai crew list come at a bad time for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a close election on 27 October. He is also dealing with a second security question, this one about the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023.

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal published a report saying Netanyahu had been warned of that attack by Egypt’s intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel. According to the report, Kamel phoned the prime minister a few days before the attack. It adds to earlier claims that Kamel flew to Israel in September 2023 to tell security officials in person that Hamas was planning an attack. Netanyahu is alleged to have received warnings before 7 October, and the claim has followed him since.