The dramatic events on Wednesday saw passengers reroute the flydubai plane to stop it from crashing, making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia before the flight's mostly Israeli passengers were flown home to a hero's welcome.
"We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination," Netanyahu told the "Fox & Friends" TV show without elaborating, adding that the co-pilot was being interrogated.
The Israeli premier said "the attacker, he calls out to the aircrew, 'Kill me, kill me'", making it "clear he was suicidal".
His comments about the alleged attacker, who the captain and passengers managed to overpower, came as the UAE chief prosecutor announced Thursday that an investigation had been launched, including the possibility of "terrorist activity or intent".
Netanyahu earlier credited the flydubai pilot, Indian national Smit Machchhar, as well as passengers, with averting catastrophe, after a co-pilot allegedly stabbed him and tried to crash the plane.
Passengers described rushing the cockpit and a fight for control after the plane suddenly plummeted, losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website.
Israeli officials have called the incident "an attempted terrorist attack", though in an earlier interview with CBS News, Netanyahu had not ruled out the possibility that mental health was to blame.
Netanyahu told Fox News that a disaster similar to the September 11, 2001 attacks "with bodies scattered in the desert" had been averted.