After attempted hijacking, Israel has changed no aviation security procedures
Four days after the Flydubai incident, the Transportation Ministry says it relies on foreign airlines to vet their crews, while acknowledging that Israel has limited oversight of foreign pilots entering the country.
Four days after the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight, the Ministry of Transportation has yet to change its procedures or implement new measures designed to prevent a similar incident. The ministry maintains that it lacks the manpower and authority to verify whether foreign airline crew members have criminal backgrounds or malicious intent. Instead, it relies on airlines to comply with established protocols and conduct background checks on their own employees.
Dvir Rubinshtein, the Ministry of Transportation’s Director of Aviation Security, told reporters that since the attempted hijacking, the ministry has been holding discussions with security officials to draw conclusions and determine what measures should be taken to prevent similar incidents. However, four days after the attempted hijacking of the flight, which was carrying 174 passengers, no new operational measures have been introduced and no procedures have been changed.
“There is no such thing as 100% certainty. Foreign aviation cannot be completely halted. We rely on the security measures of the airline’s country of origin. That is the global standard. There is no ‘blue-and-white’ [Israeli] security at airports abroad, and no one can guarantee that the person preparing the passengers’ food at the airport is any less dangerous than the pilot,” Rubinshtein said.
Even today, the entity receiving information on flight crews entering Israel is the Tax Authority, rather than the Ministry of Transportation. Acknowledging the security gaps, the ministry says it does not know whether pilots from hostile countries such as Iran, Iraq or Syria have landed in Israel in recent years, as was the case with co-pilot Hamam Al-Hammami, an Omani national.
The ministry also cannot say whether similar incidents have occurred, which countries the pilots involved came from or how many such cases there may have been.
“The Civil Aviation Authority has no involvement in security matters,” said Shmuel Zakay, head of the Civil Aviation Authority.
The central question is how an Omani national was permitted to be part of a flight crew bound for Israel in the first place. Details that have emerged about Al-Hammami show that he was an Omani citizen who had previously worked for other airlines. The Ministry of Transportation still cannot explain how he was assigned to the flight, but says Flydubai failed to comply with the relevant regulations.
“Every person boarding a plane has their passport scanned,” Zakay said. “All the information appears in the automated computer systems. The system records who is permitted to enter Israel and who is not, and who requires a visa. So, should this first officer have boarded the flight? Unequivocally no. The airline knew for certain that he was barred from entry because he held an Omani passport, and Omani citizens cannot enter the State of Israel, regardless of how many other passports they may hold.”
Zakay was responding to the claim that Al-Hammami could have entered Israel because he held an additional passport. According to details that emerged after the incident, the possibility that he held dual citizenship was initially investigated, but it later became clear that this did not explain how he came to be assigned to a flight to Israel.
Regarding Flydubai’s decision to suspend flights to Israel, the Ministry of Transportation says the move was made at the request of UAE authorities, who want to determine whether Al-Hammami acted alone or whether other crew members were involved in the incident.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Ministry of Transportation and security agencies are continuing to investigate the case. No decision has yet been reached on whether or when Flydubai will resume flights to Israel.
