Australian authorities launched a probe into an Omani FlyDubai co-pilot’s time in Australia after he was detained over an alleged attempt to seize an Israel-bound aircraft and crash it.
Meanwhile, Israel bars the U.K. Green Party’s leader from entering the country, and ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey hold a trilateral defense pact meeting in Riyadh.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Monday:
Australia and New Zealand probe FlyDubai co-pilot’s time there
Australian security agencies are investigating the Omani pilot’s time in Australia around a decade ago, Australian Federal Police said.
The FlyDubai pilot is in custody in the United Arab Emirates after he allegedly attempted to take control of the Israel-bound plane.
A police statement on Monday said a joint counterterrorism team, including federal and state police and Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, “is investigating the man’s links to Australia.”
New Zealand’s police agency also said the co-pilot had spent time in New Zealand and that the authorities would investigate.
1 killed and 2 injured in West Bank ramming attack
Israeli soldiers opened fire on three Palestinians in a vehicle that it said rammed a military vehicle in the south of the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Authority confirmed the military killed one individual and injured two others.
The military said the vehicle was driving “suspiciously” and had accelerated before the collision. It did not identify the Palestinians or provide additional details, saying no Israeli soldiers were injured in the alleged attack.
The Palestinian Authority said it hadn’t identified the Palestinian killed, and that the Israeli military had blocked the Palestinian Red Crescent from reaching the injured people.
Israel bans head of U.K. Green Party after it votes to define Zionism as racism
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Britain’s Green Party leader Zack Polanski is barred from entering Israel and described the Party’s resolution as “a clear antisemitic text.”
The Green Party passed the motion earlier Sunday at its annual conference in Brighton, declaring itself “anti-Zionist.” The resolution said Zionism will be “treated as any other form of racism” and that the party supported a “single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.”
The Greens hold only 5 seats in the 650-member Parliament. Polanski, who was campaigning for the seat in Parliament held by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, did not participate in the vote.
Saar said the resolution “legitimizes armed struggle against Israel.”
Israeli university lecturer charged with plot to kill hundreds of Arabs
An Israeli university lecturer has been charged with a plot to carry out mass attacks targeting hundreds of Arabs in Israel, the annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, according to an indictment filed in Israel on Monday.
The defendant, a mathematics lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, hoped to trigger a mass exodus of Palestinians to neighboring Arab countries, the indictment said.
The defendant planned for 72 Jewish attackers to be divided into 12 “terror squads,” armed with guns, axes and hammers. They would launch “mass acts of terrorism in mixed cities and Arab communities throughout Israel,” the indictment stated.
The indictment describes how the man, whose name wasn’t released but is in his 60s, tried to recruit former security officials, journalists and academics who he believed would align with his plan.
Bar-Ilan University said it was “deeply appalled” by the allegations against the lecturer and said it was suspending him immediately.
Tanker in Strait of Hormuz struck by projectile
A tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an “unknown projectile” on Monday, causing a fire in the engine room, the British military said.
The crew was fighting the fire, with no casualties or environmental impact reported. Authorities were investigating and there was no immediate claim of responsibility, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.
The center also reported that an unidentified tanker in the strait was ordered by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to turn back or face attack and two crude oil tankers and a liquefied petroleum gas tanker were struck by “unknown projectiles” over the weekend. No casualties were reported.
U.S. efforts to shepherd oil tankers through the strait at night, along with pipelines that skirt the strait, have allowed Gulf countries to export oil at nearly prewar levels.
But overall ship traffic remains well below prewar levels, as do shipments of liquid natural gas and fuel products.
Iran executes 2 over violence at anti-government protest
Iran hanged two men over violence during anti-government protests in January in the central city of Isfahan that left four police officers dead, according to the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
Mizan identified the men as Alireza Sepahi and Alireza Raisi. It said a group of attackers used guns, knives, axes, firebombs and other incendiary materials to attack police, vandalize property and set fire to buildings and public facilities during unrest on Jan. 8.
Mizan cited witnesses as saying Sepahi and his cousin, Abolfazl Sepahi, attacked officers and that Alireza Sepahi poured gasoline over one officer and set him on fire while he was still alive.
Abolfazl Sepahi was executed July 28.
Sepahi and Raisi were executed after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld death sentences handed down on charges including armed rebellion, national security offenses and the crimes of “corruption on Earth” and “waging war against God.”
Iran has carried out several other executions linked to the January unrest.
Human rights groups have criticized the executions of protesters, saying the convictions were often secured through unfair trials.
Pakistan, Saudi, Turkish ministers meet in Riyadh
The foreign and defense ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are holding talks in Riyadh as part of a trilateral defense cooperation agreement, Turkish and Pakistani officials said.
The meeting comes as Yemen’s internationally recognized government, backed by Saudi Arabia, has announced a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels as they advance in the outskirts of a key city.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on Aug. 7, pledging to treat an armed attack on any one of them as an attack on all three.
World Food Program staffer released in Yemen
The World Food Program on Monday celebrated the release of one of its staff members who had been detained in Yemen.
The individual was among dozens of Yemeni workers with aid groups, United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations who have been detained for the last two years by the Houthis in the rebel-held northern part of the country.
In response to the restrictions and harassment by the Houthis, the WFP shut down its operations in the area earlier this year. The move has only worsened the dire humanitarian conditions in the impoverished Arab country amid already increasing funding shortages.
