US to Inspect Israel's Security for Visa Waiver Program After Flydubai Incident

The United States is planning to send a delegation to Israel to assess its adherence to security conditions required for the visa waiver program. This comes in the wake of a security lapse discovered following an incident involving a Flydubai flight bound for Israel. The US delegation will first visit the UAE before arriving in Israel to verify if the country continues to meet Washington's security prerequisites for Israelis to travel to the US without a visa. The findings of this inspection could potentially lead to a review of Israel's visa waiver status, which was granted in 2023 after Israel implemented specific legal and security measures at the US's request. These measures included a law passed by the Knesset mandating the screening of passengers and flight crews arriving in Israel.

The US review was prompted by an attempted sabotage of the Flydubai flight and the subsequent revelation of vulnerabilities in the screening processes for foreign airline crews and information sharing among Israeli security agencies. Earlier reports indicated that over 1,200 flight crew members from countries without diplomatic ties with Israel had entered the country since the beginning of the year, sparking internal debate about screening responsibilities.

Israeli Minister of Transportation Miri Regev, in a letter to senior officials including the National Security Council head, stated that her ministry is not responsible for the security screening failures. She proposed a new regulation requiring all passengers and crew on flights to Israel to complete a visa application or an alternative document 48 hours before departure. However, officials expressed concern that this could lead other countries to impose similar requirements on Israelis. Regev also requested 40 million shekels and ten additional staff positions for her ministry to handle safety responsibilities for charter flights.

A National Security Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday to discuss proposals and clarify responsibilities among relevant ministries and agencies. Concurrently, a new issue has arisen regarding repatriation flights from the UAE, with Israir Airlines informing passengers of the cancellation of a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on October 8. The airline cited the unilateral cancellation of permits by UAE authorities and is working to resolve the situation. This cancellation, and the uncertainty surrounding other flights from the UAE, adds to the broader implications of the security lapse, affecting internal Israeli responsibilities, relations with the UAE, and the US visa waiver program.