Accused Flydubai Hijacker Praised Violence Against Women, Hated Jews Online
Newly surfaced social media posts from the man accused of attempting to hijack a flight to Israel reveal extremist views.
The man accused of attempting to hijack a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv espoused violent rhetoric against women and expressed hatred for Jews and gay people in social media posts made while he was studying aviation, according to a report.
Hamam al-Hammami, 29, allegedly made the extreme posts between November 2021 and August 2022 while remotely studying aviation management at Buckinghamshire New University in the UK. An analysis of more than 2,000 posts from an X account believed to be al-Hammami's revealed the content, The Telegraph reported.
In one online exchange regarding men assaulting women, al-Hammami reportedly wrote, "He gave her a preemptive slap so she would redefine her boundaries, just as Russia slapped Ukraine to adjust its borders." In another instance, he allegedly stated that if a woman "so much as breathed" around a man, he should "stomp on her head."
Other posts allegedly called for severe Islamic punishments against Jews and homosexuals. "His social media accounts [say] clearly that he has been radicalized into jihadist ideology. He talks about killing Jews," an Israeli official told The Times of Israel.
Al-Hammami, an Omani national, is accused of stabbing the flight's captain, Smit Machchhar, with a crash axe in the cockpit and attempting to take control of the plane on Wednesday. The incident, described as a "terrorist attack," occurred on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
The attack nearly caused the plane carrying 182 people to crash before passengers intervened and subdued the co-pilot.