UAE Shared FlyDubai Crew List with Israel Before Foiled Cockpit Attack
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shared passenger and crew manifests with Israel before the FlyDubai flight on which a pilot allegedly tried to seize control and crash the plane, regional officials said on Sunday. The disclosure has raised fresh questions about how the attacker boarded the Israel-bound aircraft without being stopped, even as investigators piece together a chain of apparent security failures.
What happened on the FlyDubai flight?
The Omani co-pilot attacked the flight captain with the cockpit crash axe and tried to take control of the aircraft in what the UAE, which is leading the investigation, has called a terrorist attack on Wednesday. His actions nearly caused the plane, carrying 182 people, to crash before the Indian captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to rush in and overpower the attacker.
Preliminary details point to a series of lapses. Officials have said the co-pilot had been barred from flying by Oman because of concerns about his extremist views. It also remains unclear how an Omani citizen, from a country that has no diplomatic relations with Israel, was allowed to fly a plane carrying Israelis to Tel Aviv.
Did Israel receive the passenger list before takeoff?
Regional officials said Emirati authorities shared information on passengers and crew, including nationalities, with Israel before the flight. Israel did not raise concerns about any individual, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief reporters.
Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet, said the Transportation Ministry is responsible for checking passenger lists from foreign flights. Transportation Minister Miri Regev told public broadcaster Kan that security agencies handle flight security and that her ministry had not been given a passenger list or any warnings.
Sharing such lists is standard aviation procedure. But Dvir Rubenstien, head of aviation security at the Transportation Ministry, told Army Radio that the ministry relies on local security checks and does not have the tools or ability to vet every passenger on every flight.
Who is to blame for the security failure?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel has long-standing agreements with foreign carriers to stop pilots who are citizens of countries without diplomatic relations with Israel from flying into the country. Australian police said on Sunday that counterterrorism investigators were looking into the attacker's possible links to Australia.
The passengers who helped stop the attack have been hailed as heroes in Israel. But as initial relief fades, officials have begun trading blame over the security failures that could have led to a major disaster.
With elections due at the end of the month, some opposition candidates have seized on the incident. Yair Golan, head of the opposition Democrats party, wrote on X: “This is exactly what system collapse looks like. A transportation minister who completely abandons our skies, and a prime minister who abandons national security.” Regev is a member of Netanyahu's Likud party and a close supporter.
Why did FlyDubai not flag the Omani pilot?
Questions also remain over how FlyDubai, the Emirati low-cost carrier operating between the UAE and Israel, failed to identify the Omani pilot as a security risk. Philip Baum, a visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University in England and author of a book on aircraft hijackings, said background check systems vary by country and there are limits on what information can be shared.
“In terms of aviation security itself, obviously we want to have as robust background checks as possible. But there are huge limitations on doing background checks in any case, especially in cross-border checks,” he said.
The investigation is continuing, but emerging details have focused attention on how the attacker slipped through multiple layers of scrutiny before passengers and crew prevented a catastrophe on the flight to Tel Aviv.
Frequently asked questions
Was the FlyDubai pilot known to security services?
Oman had barred the co-pilot from flying due to concerns about his extremist views, according to officials. It is unclear whether that information was shared with the UAE or Israel before the flight.
Did Israel check the passenger list before the flight?
Israel received the manifest from the UAE but did not raise concerns, regional officials said. The Transportation Ministry says it lacks the tools to vet every passenger on every flight.
What happened to the attacker?
The co-pilot was overpowered by passengers and crew after the captain opened the cockpit door. He is in custody as part of the ongoing investigation.