Omani Co-Pilot in Flydubai Incident Identified as Security Risk

In this episode

The stories Maya and Daniel cover, in order. Each one opens the full story.

1. Omani Co-Pilot in Flydubai Incident Identified as Security Risk
2. Supreme Court Urges Withdrawal, Allowing Joint List and Others to Run
3. Indian Captain Recovering After Foiling Co-Pilot's Attack
4. Flydubai Incident Raises Global Security Concerns for Jewish Communities
5. Hundreds of Israelis Stranded in Dubai After Flight Diversion
6. Arab Israeli Politician Withdraws Knesset Candidacy After High Court Hint

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Transcript

Maya

The co-pilot who allegedly tried to crash a jet bound for Israel had already been grounded once.

Daniel

And according to reports, he's confessed that Israel was the target.

Maya

This is Good Morning, Israel from baba News. It's Saturday, October third. I'm Maya.

Daniel

And I'm Daniel.

Maya

All week we've followed the Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, where the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to bring the plane down. Yesterday the open question was who this man was. Now we have an answer.

Daniel

Right. He's from Oman, the country on the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. And according to the reports, he was previously flagged as a security risk and suspended from flying.

Maya

Wait. Suspended by whom?

Daniel

Oman reportedly banned him from flying over fears he'd been radicalized.

Maya

And yet he was in the right-hand seat of a passenger jet headed to Israel.

Daniel

Exactly. Despite that ban, he flew the route. That gap is going to be at the center of the investigation.

Maya

Because the whole system is supposed to catch exactly this.

Daniel

It is. Cockpit doors, background checks, licensing. All of it assumes the danger is outside the cockpit. Here, by these accounts, a warning existed and still didn't stop him from boarding as crew.

Maya

What about motive? On Friday we said investigators hadn't established one.

Daniel

That's moved. He reportedly confessed his intention was to crash the plane in Israel.

Maya

In Israel. Not just anywhere.

Daniel

Right. Which tells you this wasn't a random breakdown in a cockpit. According to that reported confession, the target was Israel.

Maya

So the remaining question is whether he was alone.

Daniel

That's what investigators are now examining. Whether he acted on his own, or whether someone helped him or directed him.

Maya

And the United Arab Emirates, where Flydubai is based, has made its position clear.

Daniel

It has. The Emirates has classified the incident as a terrorist act. That matters, because the Emirates has formal ties with Israel, and calling it terror leaves very little room for ambiguity.

Maya

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also weighed in.

Daniel

He's warned of attacks by Iranian proxies. Those are the terrorist organizations Tehran backs, like Hezbollah and Hamas.

Maya

And that warning has traveled well beyond Israel.

Daniel

It has. The incident has prompted security alerts for Jewish communities around the world.

Maya

So for a listener in London or New York or Buenos Aires, this isn't a faraway story.

Daniel

Exactly. When someone tries to turn a passenger jet into a weapon aimed at Israel, Jewish communities everywhere ask whether they're next. Synagogues, schools, community centers. Security people take that seriously.

Maya

Let's talk about the man he attacked. The captain.

Daniel

Captain Smith Macher. He's Indian, and he's recovering in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates.

Maya

How is he doing?

Daniel

According to his father, he sustained significant injuries. But he's expected to make a full recovery.

Maya

And fly again?

Daniel

That's what his father says. He's expected to return to flying.

Maya

After being stabbed by his own co-pilot, he wants back in the cockpit.

Daniel

That's the part that stays with you. And he's being honored for his bravery, for foiling the attack and helping save one hundred and seventy-four passengers.

Maya

Along with the passengers who rushed the cockpit, who we heard from yesterday.

Daniel

Right. Between the captain and those passengers, everyone on board made it.

Maya

Now, not everyone has made it home. There are still Israelis stuck in Dubai.

Daniel

Hundreds of them, according to the reports. Flights between the Emirates and Israel remain suspended, and the cancellations have left people stranded.

Maya

Yesterday the Transport Ministry was saying, contact your airline. How's that going?

Daniel

Not well, by their accounts. Stranded travelers say they've had no clear guidance or help, from the airline or from the Israeli government.

Maya

And they're paying for it.

Daniel

Literally. They're reporting unexpected expenses, extra hotel nights, plus disruptions to their personal lives. Work, family, plans back in Israel.

Maya

Dubai is a lovely place to be stuck, until you're paying for it yourself.

Daniel

Exactly. And it's worth remembering why these flights stopped. Nobody's arguing security should be rushed. The complaint is about information, people not knowing what to do.

Maya

Let's turn to Israel's election, and a big day at the Supreme Court.

Daniel

Right. Yesterday we told you Sami Abu Shehadeh, head of the Arab nationalist party Balad, withdrew his candidacy for the Knesset, Israel's parliament, after the court signaled it would likely keep him off the ballot.

Maya

So what's new?

Daniel

Two things. First, with his withdrawal, the court canceled the disqualification proceedings against him. There's no ruling, because there's nothing left to rule on.

Maya

And second?

Daniel

The bigger one. The court cleared the Joint List and Ra'am, two Arab parties, to run. And it cleared Member of Knesset Ofer Cassif as well.

Maya

Cleared them from what, exactly?

Daniel

From disqualifications made by the Central Elections Committee. That's the body that oversees Israeli elections, and its members come from the political parties.

Maya

So politicians voted to keep these parties off the ballot.

Daniel

Right. And the Supreme Court overturned those decisions, citing insufficient evidence in most of the cases.

Maya

Help listeners outside Israel make sense of that. One candidate out, everyone else in.

Daniel

It shows the system works case by case. The court won't block a list just because it's unpopular with other parties. The evidence has to be there.

Maya

And with Abu Shehadeh, the court signaled the evidence was there.

Daniel

Exactly. His case involved statements about the October seventh attack and support for armed struggle. That's the line Israeli law draws. The others, in the court's view, mostly didn't cross it on the evidence presented.

Maya

How is Balad explaining his exit?

Daniel

The party attributes it to political responsibility, and to what it calls persecution.

Maya

That's their framing.

Daniel

Their framing, yes. The withdrawal came after the court signaled it would likely uphold his disqualification. And it's drawn mixed reactions, from his political rivals and from his allies.

Maya

What does this mean for the campaign?

Daniel

Arab parties are in the race. Arab voters will have candidates to choose from. And turnout among Arab citizens is always one of the big variables in how the hundred and twenty seats divide up.

Maya

Quick round now. Back to fuel prices, which we mentioned yesterday. There are more details.

Daniel

Israel's Finance Minister is expected to sign a decree cutting the excise tax on gasoline by about fifty agorot a liter. An agora is one hundredth of a shekel.

Maya

Which brings the price to?

Daniel

Seven point seven seven shekels per liter, starting next week.

Maya

Coming down from where?

Daniel

A recent record high. And this is the second time this year the government has cut that excise tax.

Maya

Twice in one year, in an election year.

Daniel

Voters at the pump do tend to notice.

Maya

And one more on the investigation. Since Oman reportedly banned the co-pilot over radicalization fears, the obvious follow-up is how that information was shared, or wasn't.

Daniel

Right. Who knew about the ban, and whether it reached Flydubai. Investigators haven't said yet. But that's the question airlines and security services everywhere will want answered.

Maya

Because if one country's warning doesn't reach another country's airline...

Daniel

Then the next attacker could get through the same gap.

Maya

Before we go, one thing to watch. Whether the Finance Minister signs that fuel decree, and with it, any word on when flights between the Emirates and Israel resume for the Israelis still waiting in Dubai.

Daniel

Follow Good Morning, Israel so tomorrow's episode is waiting for you.

Maya

See you tomorrow morning.