Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Thursday that the Omani flydubai copilot accused of stabbing the captain and attempting to crash Flight FZ1073 had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination,” as investigators continue probing the extraordinary attempted attack aboard the Israel-bound aircraft.

Netanyahu made the revelation during an interview with Fox & Friends, providing the clearest indication yet of what Israeli authorities have uncovered about the alleged attacker’s background.

“The attacker, the copilot who attacked the captain, is now being interrogated, but here’s what we do know: First, we know that, he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” Netanyahu told Fox & Friends.

“That appears to be something we’re gathering from the information – his personal information,” he added.

Reuters separately reported Netanyahu’s statement Thursday, while noting that the investigation into the copilot’s motive and possible connections remains ongoing. Netanyahu said it was still too early to determine whether the attacker had connections to Iran, but indicated that additional information could emerge within days.

Netanyahu also revealed a potentially serious security failure that allowed the Omani national to serve in the cockpit of an aircraft flying directly to Israel.

According to Netanyahu, Israeli security regulations prohibit pilots from countries that do not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel from operating flights into the country. Oman does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

“Well, he was an Omani national and we have constraints that say you can’t have pilots from countries that don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel,” he told Fox & Friends.

“So obviously he was able to go through that. So there’s a loophole there: How to make sure that we screened pilots in advance,” he continued.

The issue has emerged as a major focus of the investigation. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the copilot should not have been permitted to operate a flight into Tel Aviv under Israeli protocols barring nationals of countries without diplomatic relations with Israel from serving on such flights. Investigators are examining how he was nevertheless assigned to Flight FZ1073.

Netanyahu said Israel had already tightened screening procedures when flydubai dispatched another aircraft to Saudi Arabia to retrieve the stranded Israeli passengers following Wednesday’s incident.

“And that’s what we did, by the way, with the pilots that came to take our passengers from Saudi Arabia to Israel: We checked their background, but obviously there was a loophole here, and we’re taking care of that, among other things.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)