Israel will get to the "root" of the co-pilot who engaged in a foiled attempt to crash an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, and Israel will "possibly" be taking part in the probe into the incident.
"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 with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
Israeli officials said earlier that the attacker's motive aboard flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday 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 more than 4000 metres 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".
