Israel Blames Security Agencies and Transport Ministry for Pilot's Entry

An Omani-passport-holding co-pilot, Hammam Al-Hammami, was cleared to fly to Israel on a Flydubai flight despite security concerns, sparking a blame game between Israel's Ministry of Transport and its security agencies. Security officials are pointing fingers at the Ministry of Transport, asserting that its security department should have vetted foreign flight crews. They claim that by not properly utilizing the data available through the 'Malan' system, which collects passenger and crew information including passport details for counter-terrorism and aviation security, the ministry failed to identify individuals barred from entering Israel due to holding dual passports from adversarial nations.

Sources involved in the investigation suggest this is not an isolated incident, alleging that the Ministry of Transport's security department has not accessed or reviewed foreign flight crew data from the Malan system for approximately two years. While other security bodies also have access to this information, the co-pilot was not flagged before the flight. If the two-year claim is substantiated, a broader review of past flights and crew vetting processes will be necessary to determine who accessed the data, who reviewed it, and what exceptions were missed. Investigations are also examining whether the Omani co-pilot has flown to Israel previously and what checks were conducted on those occasions.

The Ministry of Transport vehemently denies these accusations, calling them "fake and lies." They argue that the criticism conflates foreign flights, for which the ministry has long been responsible for security arrangements, with chartered flights operated by Israeli companies, where responsibilities have shifted. According to the ministry, until 2021, the Shin Bet handled security for all chartered flights. Following a 2021 decision, the Shin Bet focused on high-risk charters, leaving others without that level of oversight. The Ministry of Transport agreed to take over the vetting of non-Shin Bet-secured charters starting in 2026 after a National Security Council (NSC) review. The ministry insists that the documents cited in the criticism pertain to chartered flights, not foreign ones, and that its security department has been responsible for foreign flight security arrangements since 1977.

Further complicating the issue, the Ministry of Transport claims that under the law, its security department is a "authorized authority" but does not have direct access to the Malan database, unlike intelligence agencies like the Mossad and Shin Bet. While the law allows the ministry to request data analysis from Malan personnel, it is unclear if such requests have been made to identify crew members with problematic travel documents. The ministry emphasizes it is "not an intelligence body." The Ministry of Transport stated that Flydubai had received explicit instructions and committed in writing to conduct necessary background checks on its crews and implement Israel's nationality restrictions into its scheduling system.

Shmuel Zakai, head of the Civil Aviation Authority, stated that a pilot with an Omani passport who was not permitted to enter Israel should not have been allowed on the flight. In this case, the airline's commitment did not prevent the co-pilot's assignment, and the information available in Israel did not flag him as non-compliant before takeoff. The dispute over responsibility predates this incident, with a classified state comptroller's report from January 2024 on international aviation security highlighting the need for the NSC to work with various ministries and security agencies to reassess aviation security and clarify responsibilities and resources.

Discussions are ongoing between the Ministry of Transport and security agencies to revise procedures, and the idea of establishing a single state body to oversee aviation security has resurfaced. These discussions aim to define who receives and vets crew details, what cross-checks will be performed against Malan data, and who is responsible for preventing the assignment of non-compliant crew members. Currently, responsibility for this failure cannot be assigned to a single entity, as multiple bodies had relevant authorities concerning the use of the data.