JERUSALEM: An Iranian flight attendant who hijacked an Iranian airliner and flew it to Israel 12 years ago has converted to Judaism, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday.

“Despite the difficulties I have faced obtaining Israeli citizenship, you have warmly welcomed me,” Reza Jabari was quoted as telling the Maariv daily.

“Morally I feel indebted towards you. For this reason I decided to convert.”

On Sept 19, 1995, Jabari, who was a flight attendant for Iranian carrier Kish Air, hijacked a flight between Tehran and the Iranian resort island of Kish.

He diverted the aeroplane and its 174 passengers to Israel, where he told authorities he had hijacked the plane because he was desperate to flee Iran and never had any intention of harming the passengers or crew.

Jabari was arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison, but was released after four years and settled among Iranian Jews in the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat.

“I feel as if I was born here ... my sense today is that I am completely Israeli,” he told the newspaper.—AFP