Amid an ongoing probe into the flydubai plane incident and possible terror links, Israel’s Transportation Ministry has said it does not conduct background checks on foreign pilots flying into the country. The Ministry on Saturday stated that it cannot guarantee that flights operated by foreign airlines are completely safe. The comments came as authorities investigate the stabbing of an Indian Captain Smit Machchhar by his Omani co-pilot on a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv on September 30.
Israel Says It Does Not Check Foreign Pilots
According to Times Of Israel, the ministry’s security division told reporters during a briefing that it does not receive the names of foreign pilots and crew members in advance. A representative of the security division said the ministry does not have personnel stationed abroad and resources to check every person involved in incoming flights.
“We are not an intelligence body that checks the intelligence background of foreigners," a representative of the division said, according to Ynet. "We have no forces abroad. We have no staff that checks every person there,” the representative added. The division also said it could not give details about how many pilots from hostile states have flown into Israel.
Ministry Cannot Guarantee Flights Are 100% Safe
According to the ministry, background checks are outsourced to the airlines themselves. It emphasised it cannot guarantee that foreign airline flights will be completely secure. “Nothing is 100 per cent when it comes to security,” the division’s representative said as quoted by Ynet. The representative also said the ministry could not promise “100 per cent that this won’t happen again.”
Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Miri Regev said that decisions about security risks and whether people should travel to destinations are handled by Israel’s security authorities. “Those who are supposed to identify the crew are security officials. We are not security officials,” Transportation Minister Miri Regev told Israel's public broadcaster Kan on Saturday.
Questions Over Omani Pilots
The statements come as questions over how pilots from countries considered hostile by Israel were able to operate flights into the country have been raised. According to reports, dozens of Omani pilots have flown to Tel Aviv on flydubai flights in recent years, despite restrictions concerning pilots from unfriendly states.
The Omani co-pilot accused of attacking Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar during a flydubai flight heading towards Tel Aviv was identified as 29-year-old Hamam Al-Hammami. According to Al Arabiya English, citing sources, Al-Hammami had previously been stopped from flying in Oman due to concerns over his alleged extremist views.
The sources also claimed that he had spent significant time outside Oman, including in Syria, where he was allegedly exposed to extremist ideas.
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