- Israel's Transportation Ministry said it does not vet foreign pilots flying into the country
- The ministry admitted flights are "not 100%" safe and cannot guarantee future safety
- The remarks came amid a probe into an Omani co-pilot stabbing the captain of an Tel Aviv-bound flight
Israel's Transportation Ministry has said it does not vet pilots who fly into the country and that such flights are not "100 per cent" safe, a statement that came amid a probe into an Omani co-pilot stabbing the captain of an Tel Aviv-bound flight this week.
The ministry said they are not responsible for any security breaches prior to the attack as it does not have the capacity to perform background checks on foreign pilots.
"Those who are supposed to identify the crew are security officials. We are not security officials," Transportation Minister Miri Regev told Israel's public broadcaster Kan on Saturday.
"Those who are supposed to say what the threat level is, and whether you can travel to a given destination, are security officials," she added.
In a media briefing, the Transportation Ministry's security division reportedly also said that they don't have their officials abroad.
"We have no staff that checks every person there," a representative of the division said, according to reports in Israeli media.
"Nothing is 100% when it comes to security," the representative said, adding that the ministry can't promise "100% that this won't happen again".
The division also said that it could not specify how many pilots from hostile states have landed in Israel, and that it could not promise that flights on foreign airlines will be completely secure.
Israeli Security Lapses?
Dozens of Omani pilots have reportedly flown to Tel Aviv in recent years on flydubai flights, despite Israel's ban on pilots from unfriendly states.
The figure emerged as part of the investigations into a "terrorist attack" on a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, in which an Omani co-pilot attacked the captain while trying to take control of the aircraft.
A report in Israeli media outlet, Channel 12, claimed that Israeli security agency Shin Bet was negligent in enforcing a ban on pilots from states that doesn't have diplomatic relations with Israel.
Oman, which has not signed the Abraham Accords -- a pact to normalise ties between Israel and Arab countries -- does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel. The accords, which established diplomatic ties between Israel and the UAE in 2020, bar pilots from flying into Israel if their home countries don't formally recognise the Jewish state.
According to the report, Israel has ceded oversight of that prohibition over the years, trusting the foreign airlines to enforce the ban. Citing the investigation into the attack, Channel 12 reported that the Shin Bet security service never examined the origins of flydubai's pilots, beyond reminding the airline about the clause.
The flydubai Incident
An Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, was seriously injured after the co-pilot, identified as Hamam al-Hammami from Oman, stabbed him with an axe during a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Hearing noises, passengers and crew rushed into the cockpit and overpowered the co-pilot as the Boeing 737 plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.
A second pair of flydubai pilots aboard the flight -- which was carrying over 170 passengers and crew -- then landed the jet safely in Saudi Arabia's Tabuk.
The United Arab Emirates -- which is probing the incident -- said the co-pilot was planning a "terrorist act".
