From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 5, 2026
Former NSC head pans Netanyahu’s ‘review’ of flydubai attack, says PM has ultimate responsibility
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Former head of the National Security Council (NSC) Eyal Hulata pans the “review” ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into the apparent failures leading up to the flydubai terror attack, describing it as an empty “ritual” and insisting that the premier bears ultimate responsibility over the issue.
Netanyahu on Sunday instructed NSC head Shmuel Ben Ezra to appoint an examiner to conduct a review of “all aspects” of the security arrangements for foreign civilian flights to Israel in the wake of the flydubai incident.
Hulata, who served as head of the NSC from 2021 to early 2023, describes the failings as “multi-system dysfunction” and says that the NSC itself needs to be examined for its role in the issue of security for foreign airlines and that Netanyahu was seeking to avoid scrutiny of his decision-making process.
“There is [an empty] ritual here. The prime minister tells the National Security Council chairman to appoint a review panel and basically pushes off the issue of the decision-making process from him as the head of the pyramid and from the NSC as his staff. There is something twisted in the way this whole thing is being dealt with,” Haluta tells Army Radio.
He notes that the NSC warned in 2024 and 2025 that the agencies that were supposed to deal with security for foreign airlines, “in particular the Transportation Ministry and possibly the Shin Bet too,” were not doing their job properly.
“The moment the prime minister or the NSC on his behalf issues a warning — what now? Who takes responsibility now to ensure that these things are dealt with?” asks Haluta.
“The person who bears responsibility is the prime minister. That’s what he’s the prime minister for. If a minister or a ministry or an agency isn’t doing what they need to, it’s his job to ensure that these things happen and to use his total authority — it should not be understood any other way — to do what is needed so that the government functions for the good of the citizens.”
The Times of Israel Community.