Some of the details surrounding the operation to attempt to bring down or hijack, we do not know which, the Flydubai aircraft traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv have begun to emerge.
The person who attempted to carry out this terrorist operation was the co-pilot. As explained by UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, the aircraft's co-pilot began carrying out his plan during the flight. He assaulted the pilot inside the cockpit, using the "emergency axe," and attempted to take control of the aircraft's controls.
Incidentally, two heroes have been overlooked in accounts of the incident, despite their role in preventing a catastrophe and the deaths of dozens of passengers and crew members. They were two reserve pilots who had been on board the flight. From the moment control of the aircraft was regained and it was stabilized, they remained on board until they landed it safely. It was not the Israeli "plumber" who has become the subject of ridicule and, for some, a source of conspiracy theories and claims that no real operation to bring down or hijack the aircraft had been planned.
Media networks such as Al Arabiya and CNN, citing sources, reported that the co-pilot was a young Omani man of Syrian origin named Hammam Al-Hammami. The Wall Street Journal quoted informed sources as saying that the co-pilot had previously been barred from flying in Oman because of concerns that he had adopted extremist ideological views. He had also previously trained with Royal Air Maroc.
The important point here is the period he spent in Syria, which an Al Arabiya report estimates was from 2011 to 2017. It was there, presumably, that the now 29-year-old young man absorbed his extremist ideas, and my strong suspicion is that he belonged specifically to Al Qaeda.
We know of the connection between Al Qaeda and the Iranian regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and this subject has been extensively examined. The evidence has been repeatedly discussed to the point of becoming familiar. So will the coming days reveal some connection between the two? Or did Hammam act alone, on his own initiative, influenced by the ideas with which he had become immersed, with his age being one of recklessness and boldness?! All of this is possible. But what is certain so far is that the co-pilot was in the midst of carrying out a terrorist operation, not an ordinary incident resulting from a passing quarrel. It is therefore very important to examine the records of the life of the young Hammam.
The second matter concerns those responsible for education, upbringing, culture, and the media in our countries. Notice that I did not mention the security authorities. They must take this as a warning and work to cleanse the paths of culture, education, and the media of the components of this culture. Hammam did not suddenly wake up and become an active member of Al Qaeda, as appears likely. Rather, he is the product of a long and complex process. He also presents us with a non-stereotypical image of a radical terrorist. He is a young man who received a modern education and is well groomed, rather than the stereotypical image of a terrorist represented by figures such as Baghdadi, Al-Maqdisi, Al-Zawahiri, Al-Wahishi, or Al-Muqrin, and so on.
In one comprehensive and definitive statement: We must not fall into the illusion that confronting the thought and discourse of Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Sururiyya is an "emergency" task limited by time and place, after which everyone simply moves on.
This is a permanent and sustained task with every generation.
My objection is to this mistaken and flawed conception: that confronting the "ideology" of these groups is merely a security task accompanied by emergency media efforts. This is where the flaw lies. That is why a young man emerges after we have fought, and our media have fought, Al Qaeda for an entire decade.
This "numbing" was carried out by some out of good intentions and naivety, and by others with cunning and calculation.
