Israel says it does not background-check foreign pilots flying into the country

Israel’s transportation ministry said on Saturday that it does not conduct background checks on foreign pilots flying into the country and cannot guarantee that flights operated by foreign airlines will be “100 percent” safe. The ministry’s security division said it does not receive the names of pilots and crew in advance and does not have the ability to conduct background checks on foreign pilots flying into Israel. “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 statements came after multiple reports that pilots from hostile states have repeatedly flown planes into Israel despite regulations intended to prevent them from doing so. The perpetrator of the terror attack on the flydubai flight, Hamam al-Hammami, was a citizen of Oman, which does not have relations with Israel. The security division said it could not specify how many pilots from hostile states had landed in Israel and that background checks were outsourced to the airlines themselves. “Nothing is 100% when it comes to security,” the division’s representative said, according to Ynet. This comes as questions mount over what could have been done to prevent the near-disaster involving flydubai Flight 1073. Channel 12 quoted the representative as saying the ministry could not guarantee “100% that this won’t happen again,” and that the only foolproof way to prevent such threats would be to prohibit foreign airlines from landing in Israel. Transportation Minister Miri Regev told the Kan public broadcaster that assessing the security of air travel falls under the responsibility of Israel’s security establishment. “Those who are supposed to say what the threat level is, and whether you can travel to a given destination, are security officials,” she said. Israel has said it has agreements with foreign airlines to prevent pilots from countries with which it has no diplomatic ties from flying into the country. Israel and Oman do not have formal diplomatic relations. Separately, a regional official and a person familiar with the matter said the co-pilot had been barred from flying by Oman over concerns that he had adopted extremist views. The official said he was subsequently moved to an administrative role at Oman Air, as cited by AP. The co-pilot was later hired by UAE-based Flydubai, the person familiar with the matter said. It was not immediately clear how extensively he was vetted before being hired. A Gulf diplomat said he underwent standard security checks, but these appeared to have focused on whether he had any criminal convictions rather than examining his background for possible signs of radicalisation. The regional official said security agencies from four countries in the region were working to determine the co-pilot’s motives, with assistance from the United States and other Western governments. The investigation has not concluded, but the Gulf diplomat said it had so far found no links to militant groups, suggesting the co-pilot may have acted alone. The regional official said the co-pilot was born in the UAE and that his mother is Syrian. He obtained Omani nationality through his father, who was also an Omani national. The official also said the co-pilot had travelled to Syria, without providing further details. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the co-pilot had undergone “Islamist radicalization,” but provided no evidence. The flydubai flight made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after an extreme descent that tore away part of the aircraft’s rudder, prompting aviation experts to say it was fortunate not to crash. Flydubai said crew members travelling as passengers helped stabilise the aircraft and land safely. Captain Machcchar was seriously injured in the incident. The captain and co-pilot were later taken to the UAE, while the passengers, most of them Israeli, returned home on a separate flight later on Wednesday.