Netanyahu orders review of foreign-flight security after Flydubai incident

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a review of security arrangements for international flights to Israel following an alleged attempt by a Flydubai co-pilot to bring down a passenger aircraft. Netanyahu instructed National Security Council head Shmuel Ben Ezra to appoint an examiner to conduct a comprehensive review of security aspects affecting foreign civil aviation to Israel, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office. The incident occurred on Wednesday aboard a Flydubai flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

The co-pilot, described in the supplied material as Omani, allegedly stabbed the Indian captain and attempted to crash the aircraft. Israeli media reported that the intended crash site was in Israel, though the material gives no further account of the flight’s outcome. The incident has prompted questions about how a pilot from a country without diplomatic relations with Israel was approved to operate a flight bound for Tel Aviv.

Israeli media have also reported that pilots from countries considered hostile to Israel have flown into the country in recent years. Transport Minister Miri Regev rejected responsibility for the lapse. She said security oversight for foreign-airline flights fell under Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence agencies.

The issue is disputed, however, because a 2024 state comptroller’s report found no clear division of responsibility for the security of foreign airlines and recommended that the government resolve it. Keren Terner, a former transport-ministry director general and current opposition parliamentary candidate, said responsibility lay with Regev because the Civil Aviation Authority was under her ministry’s direct authority. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the announced review a sham investigation and said the failures before the incident could have caused a major disaster.

Gadi Eisenkot, another leading challenger to Netanyahu ahead of the October 27 election, said a properly functioning government would have seen the transport minister resign.