Ex-Transportation Ministry chief, B’Yachad No. 3 Terner: Regev responsible for flydubai failure

By Ariela Karmel

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Keren Terner attends an Israel Hayom conference in Jerusalem, July 5, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Former Transportation Ministry director-general Keren Terner, who is No. 3 on Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad slate, directly rejects Transportation Minister Miri Regev’s claim that her ministry is not responsible for security vetting of foreign airlines, amid mounting questions over the failures preceding last week’s attack on a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv.

The government, including Regev and her ministry, have denied responsibility for any security breach preceding the terror incident, saying it lacks the ability to conduct background checks on foreign pilots.

Directly addressing Regev, Terner, who served as Transportation Ministry director-general from 2016 to 2020, including during Regev’s tenure, rejects the minister’s claim: “You are responsible for the security regarding foreign airlines. Not the Shin Bet, not the Mossad. You.”

Terner notes that the Civil Aviation Authority has reported directly to the transportation minister since 2008 and points to a classified state comptroller report published in May 2024 that she says identified shortcomings in the preparedness of the ministry’s security division during Regev’s tenure.

“You were alerted; yet, you took no action,” Terner charges, adding that Regev subsequently chose to keep responsibility for the security division within the ministry.

“Three years later, we must not let the October 7 government whitewash yet another failure,” she adds.

Separately, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, No. 2 on Bennett’s B’Yachad slate, says that “the prime minister, the transportation minister, the Shin Bet and the Mossad owe the public a rigorous accounting for one of the greatest failures we have seen,” and accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of rushing to “claim credit for the heroism of Israeli citizens” before falling silent as questions emerged over the incident.