Delta Bomb Threat and Ethiopian Plane Diverted Amid Aviation Security Concerns

Ben Gurion Airport experienced a security alert on Monday morning when a Delta Airlines flight from New York landed after a bomb threat. Security forces evacuated passengers and inspected the aircraft. Adham Habiballah, a reporter for Radio al-Shams, stated that the plane was isolated upon landing and passengers were deplaned before a thorough search commenced. He emphasized that the threat was unconfirmed and the search yielded no suspicious items. Habiballah linked these precautionary measures to heightened concerns following a previous incident involving a Flydubai aircraft, which had raised fears about aviation security. He also noted that some airlines have postponed flights to and from Israel, including routes to Riyadh, due to ongoing Houthi threats and tightened security.

In a separate incident, Habiballah reported that an Ethiopian Airlines cargo plane was turned back after it was discovered that one of its pilots held Indonesian citizenship, a country with no diplomatic relations with Israel. The plane, which departed from Addis Ababa early Monday, was reportedly intercepted after Israeli authorities reviewed the passenger manifest post-takeoff and identified the pilot's nationality. The aircraft was instructed to return to Ethiopia, having allegedly jettisoned some fuel over the sea during its return flight. The pilot was reportedly replaced with another who had clearance to enter Israel.

These incidents have prompted scrutiny of the procedures for vetting flight crews and the coordination between relevant authorities. Reports suggest that a significant number of pilots, potentially ten or more, have entered Israel recently without adequate identity or passport verification, raising concerns about potential entry by individuals from countries considered hostile by Israel. The Ethiopian Airlines incident has specifically highlighted issues with the timely verification of foreign flight crew data before aircraft enter Israeli airspace. Discussions in the Knesset following the Flydubai incident revealed technical limitations in extracting crew nationality data up to 48 hours before departure, with updates often occurring closer to takeoff. The series of events raises questions about the readiness of security screening procedures and the ability of authorities to verify crew information effectively.