Systemic Failure Allowed Omani Pilot to Board Flydubai Flight

An attempted terror attack on a Flydubai flight has exposed severe systemic failures in Israel's aviation security. Responsibility for vetting foreign flight crews is now being passed between various agencies. Formally, the Ministry of Transport's Security Department and the Aviation Security Operations Center are responsible for the security assessment of foreign flights. Passenger and crew data is also sent to the National Center for Passenger Data Diagnosis (Mal'an), which operates under the Tax Authority. However, the Ministry of Transport claims it never received this list, and the Mossad also stated it did not receive the information.

Despite these claims, the Minister of Transport assigned responsibility to the Mossad, citing Flydubai as a foreign airline. The Ministry of Transport asserts it is not an intelligence agency and lacks the tools to vet every pilot and crew member. Flydubai had previously committed to sending pilots to Israel only from countries with diplomatic relations with Israel, yet a pilot from Oman was assigned to this flight. This suggests a potentially broader issue, as it may not be the first time a crew member from a country without diplomatic ties to Israel has entered the country without this fact being flagged to the relevant security bodies.