Vance Says U.S. Eyeing Bigger Question In Israel Hijacker Attack

Vice President JD Vance said Monday that the Trump administration is looking into U.S. procedures to keep dangerous individuals from piloting aircraft following last week’s attack aboard an Israel-bound Flydubai flight.

Speaking to The Daily Wire’s White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan, Vance said the co-pilot accused of attacking the captain should never have been allowed to fly.

“We knew that guy was a problem, not United States intelligence, but if you look historically, that person should not have been flying an airline,” said Vance on Monday. “We’re certainly looking at our procedures within the United States to make sure that people who are obviously flight risks are not getting behind the wheel of an airline.” 

Vance also said officials were examining possible Iranian involvement, but he had not seen conclusive evidence. 

“That’s something I defer to John Ratcliffe [CIA Director] and some of the intelligence folks on. I don’t want to get ahead of any announcements there but it’s certainly something we’re looking at but I wouldn’t say that I’ve seen anything conclusive just yet,” he said. 

On Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested the Flydubai co-pilot could be linked to Iran “based on what I’m hearing.” He said officials were “working on it right now” to determine whether there was an Iranian connection. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week it was “too early to say” if Iran was involved. Netanyahu added that the pilot had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination.”

Last week, an Omani co-pilot repeatedly stabbed the captain and attempted to send the aircraft into a nosedive with 174 people aboard, including 27 children.

The attack began about 90 minutes before the flight was due to reach Israel, when Hamam al-Hammami, 29, used the cockpit’s emergency crash axe to attack the captain. The captain managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to rush inside and overpower the co-pilot. 

The aircraft was a Boeing 737 Max 8 operating as Flydubai Flight FZ1073. Al-Hammami reportedly had planned an earlier attack in July but abandoned it because he was friends with a crew member aboard that flight. 

Al-Hammami had previously worked for Oman Air but had reportedly been removed from his flight duties over concerns about his radical ideological views. He was reportedly found with extremist materials while a trainee in 2024, and the airline reassigned him to an administrative job.  

When Flydubai hired him, his background check reportedly focused on criminal records rather than signs of radicalization.

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