Netanyahu warns of a heavy price if anyone sent the flydubai co-pilot

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that whoever may have dispatched the co-pilot accused of trying to bring down a flydubai flight will pay a very heavy price. Ynet reported that the remark came while the investigation is still under way and before it has been established whether the co-pilot, described as Omani, acted on his own initiative or under someone's direction.

According to Ynet, Netanyahu framed the warning as conditional: if the pilot was sent, the person who sent him would pay heavily. The same report said that authorities in the United Arab Emirates have described the incident as an act of terrorism. Political commentator Amit Segal, writing on his Telegram channel, quoted Netanyahu as saying that the investigation is examining whether the pilot was sent, and that anyone who did send him would pay a very heavy price.

What the three reports say

All three Israeli outlets carried the same core statement from the prime minister, published within a short time of one another. News.co.il, on its Telegram channel, summarised it as a threat against whoever sent "this pilot". None of the three reports quotes the full statement or says where or in what setting Netanyahu spoke.

The reports differ in how they describe the incident itself. Ynet refers to a co-pilot who tried to crash the flight. Amit Segal's post refers to him as "the stabbing pilot", which suggests a stabbing was involved, but the post gives no further detail. The reports do not reconcile these descriptions, and this article does not attempt to.

Who flydubai is

Flydubai is an airline based in Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is one of the Arab states that have established diplomatic relations with Israel, and flights between the two countries operate regularly. The reports, however, do not say which route the flight in question was flying, whether it was travelling to or from Israel, or whether any Israelis were on board.

Why an Israeli leader is speaking

The reports do not explain why the Israeli prime minister is commenting on an incident aboard an Emirati carrier, or what Israeli interest is involved. Netanyahu's reference to an investigation in which "we" are examining whether the pilot was sent, as quoted by Amit Segal, could indicate Israeli involvement in the inquiry, but none of the reports states that directly or names the agencies conducting it.

The Emirati characterisation of the event as terrorism, as reported by Ynet, is attributed to the UAE generally. The report does not name a specific ministry, official or statement.

How the statement fits

Netanyahu's wording is a deterrent warning of a kind Israeli leaders often issue after attacks, pairing an open question about responsibility with a promise of consequences. In this case the warning is explicitly hypothetical. Neither Netanyahu, as quoted, nor any of the outlets identifies a suspected sponsor, country or organisation, and none suggests that one has been identified.

What the reports do not say

• When and where the incident took place, and the flight's origin and destination.
• Whether anyone was killed or injured, and what happened to the aircraft.
• Whether a stabbing took place, as one report implies, and how the co-pilot was stopped.
• The co-pilot's name, his current status, and who is holding or questioning him.
• Which authorities are running the investigation, and what role Israel has in it.
• Whether any group or state is suspected of directing him.
• The exact wording and source of the Emirati description of the incident as terrorism.

Until officials release more information, the only firmly reported element is Netanyahu's conditional warning, carried consistently by all three outlets.