Flydubai Pilot Suspect Posted 2 Extremist Videos as Probe Widens Over Tel Aviv Flight Attack
Updated
Updated · CNN · Oct 2
Flydubai Pilot Suspect Posted 2 Extremist Videos as Probe Widens Over Tel Aviv Flight Attack
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Oct 2
Summary
Two social-media posts tied to Hamam al-Hammami surfaced about nine hours after Wednesday’s in-flight attack, including cockpit footage ending with images of al-Qaeda figures and Israeli airliners.
Sources told CNN Oman Air had removed the Omani pilot from flight training in 2025 over extremist views, while an Israeli official said he had worked at Flydubai for only eight months.
Nearly 3,000 deleted tweets from 2021-2022 reviewed by CNN portrayed him as deeply religious and misogynistic, with posts condemning mixed-gender workplaces and demanding a future wife wear a niqab and stop working.
Israeli agencies and the UAE attorney general are now examining possible terror links and prior planning, after the Tel Aviv-bound Boeing 737 Max 8 diverted to Saudi Arabia where the suspect was interrogated.