Netanyahu orders review of foreign-flight security after attempted Flydubai attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a review of security arrangements for international flights to Israel after an alleged attempt to crash a Flydubai aircraft travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, the South China Morning Post reported. Netanyahu instructed National Security Council head Shmuel Ben Ezra to appoint an examiner to conduct what the prime minister’s office described as a thorough examination of all security aspects of foreign civil aviation serving Israel. The order followed an incident on Wednesday involving an Omani co-pilot and an Indian captain.

According to the detailed report, the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and attempted to bring down the plane. Israeli media reported that the co-pilot intended to crash the aircraft on Israeli territory. The available accounts do not provide information about passengers, injuries, damage to the aircraft or how the flight ended.

The incident has prompted questions about how a pilot from Oman, a country without diplomatic relations with Israel, was cleared to operate a flight bound for Tel Aviv. The report said Israeli media had also reported that pilots from countries considered hostile to Israel had repeatedly flown into the country in recent years. Transport Minister Miri Regev rejected responsibility for the security failure.

She said oversight of security for foreign airlines fell under the authority of the Mossad and Shin Bet, Israel’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies, according to the report. That allocation of responsibility was disputed by Keren Terner, a former director general of the transport ministry who is now running for parliament for the opposition. Terner said the Civil Aviation Authority was under the transport ministry’s direct supervision and argued that Regev was responsible under the law and government’s decisions.

The dispute follows a 2024 state comptroller’s report, cited by the South China Morning Post, which found that there was no clear division of responsibility for the security of foreign airlines operating in Israel. The comptroller recommended that the government resolve the ambiguity. The supplied material does not say whether those recommendations were implemented or whether the new review will examine them.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid described Netanyahu’s announcement as a “sham investigation” and said the chain of failures could have produced a major disaster. Gadi Eisenkot, another leading challenger to Netanyahu before the October 27 election, said a functioning government would have required the transport minister to resign. NDTV’s shorter account confirmed the order for a review but supplied no details of the attack, the agencies involved or any changes to flight operations.

It is therefore unclear whether flights, airport procedures or schedules have been altered.