UAE shared flydubai crew details with Israel before attempted attack

Questions over responsibility for screening foreign flight crews have also focused on a Security Cabinet decision dating to July 2021.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The UAE provided information on the passengers and crew aboard last week’s flydubai flight before its departure, but no one was flagged by Israel, raising questions about how an Omani co-pilot with suspected extremist views was permitted to operate the Israel-bound flight.

The information included the names and nationalities of passengers and crew members, officials told PBS on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation publicly.

The Omani co-pilot is accused of attempting to seize control of the aircraft during the flight.

His presence in the cockpit has prompted scrutiny because of his suspected extremist views and citizenship in a country that has not normalized diplomatic relations with Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel has longstanding arrangements with foreign airlines barring pilots who are citizens of countries without diplomatic relations with Israel from flying into the country.

Questions over responsibility for screening foreign flight crews have also focused on a Security Cabinet decision dating to July 2021.

According to a report published Sunday morning, the Cabinet decided at that time that the Shin Bet would cease overseeing security on foreign flights to Israel. Before the change, the Shin Bet was also responsible for screening crew members arriving in Israel aboard foreign flights.

Under the Cabinet decision, “the Civil Aviation Authority in the Transportation Ministry will verify that security directives in foreign countries comply with the provisions of international conventions.”

A National Security Council document, however, states that “the Transportation Ministry is not acting in accordance with the decision.”

Transportation Ministry officials have maintained that the ministry is not responsible for conducting intelligence background investigations of individual foreign pilots.

The ministry’s security division also said it does not receive the names of Flydubai crew members in advance and does not have personnel overseas capable of conducting such checks.

“We are not an intelligence body that checks the intelligence background of foreigners,” a division representative said. “We have no forces abroad. We have no staff that checks every person there.”