Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a security review of international flights to Israel following an alleged attempt by an Omani co-pilot to bring down a Flydubai aircraft travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu instructed Shmuel Ben Ezra, head of the National Security Council, to appoint an examiner to conduct a “thorough review of all security aspects of foreign civil aviation to Israel”, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office on Sunday.
The decision followed mounting calls for an investigation into the security arrangements that allowed the co-pilot, a national of Oman, to operate a flight bound for Israel. Israeli media reported that the co-pilot attempted to crash the aircraft on Wednesday after stabbing the Indian captain and had intended to bring the plane down on Israeli territory.
The incident has focused attention on how a pilot from a country with no diplomatic relations with Israel was cleared to serve on a foreign airline operating a flight to Tel Aviv. Israeli media have also reported that pilots from countries considered hostile to Israel have flown into the country repeatedly in recent years.
Transport Minister Miri Regev rejected responsibility for the security failure. She said security oversight for foreign airlines operating in Israel falls under the responsibility of Mossad and Shin Bet, Israel’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies.
A 2024 report by Israel’s state comptroller, however, found that there was no clear division of responsibility for the security of foreign airlines operating in the country. The report recommended that the government resolve the issue.
Keren Terner, a former director general of the transport ministry who is now running for parliament for the opposition, directly challenged Regev’s position. She said the Civil Aviation Authority was under the “direct subordination” of the transport ministry.
“You are responsible for the security of foreign companies. Not the Shin Bet, not Mossad. You. That’s what the government decided and that’s what the law stipulates,” Terner wrote on social media.
The incident has also intensified political criticism of Netanyahu ahead of the October 27 election. Opposition leader Yair Lapid described the prime minister’s decision to order a security review as a “sham investigation”, arguing that the failures preceding the incident could have resulted in a major disaster.
“The chain of failures that preceded the incident could have led to a disaster of historic proportions, and this is how an Israeli prime minister responds?” Lapid wrote on social media.
Lapid also accused Netanyahu of avoiding accountability, referring to the prime minister’s handling of the investigation into the October 7 massacre. “Just as Netanyahu escaped an investigation into the October 7 massacre, he is now running away again,” he wrote.
Gadi Eisenkot, a leading challenger to Netanyahu ahead of the election, also criticised the government’s response and said the transport minister should have resigned.
“In a proper and functioning government, the minister of transportation would have submitted a letter of resignation last night,” Eisenkot wrote on social media.
The dispute centres on responsibility for screening and protecting foreign civil aviation, with the 2024 state comptroller’s finding of unclear institutional responsibilities adding to scrutiny of the security arrangements exposed by the Flydubai incident.
