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Sunday, October 4, 2026
Report: Israeli official overseeing flight security did paid consulting work for flydubai in UAE
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleNava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
Dvir Rubinstein, a Transportation Ministry official responsible for security oversight of foreign airlines flying to Israel, has also done paid private consulting and training work for those carriers, including flydubai and Emirates, Channel 12 reports.
Rubinstein, who has served as the ministry’s aviation security director for 19 years, is responsible for granting security approvals and permits to foreign airlines and flights entering Israel, according to a professional biography cited by the Hebrew network. His responsibilities include oversight of flydubai and its Dubai-Tel Aviv route, on which last week’s terror attack by an Omani copilot took place.
Channel 12 reports that Rubinstein traveled to the UAE in his private capacity to provide training and consulting to flydubai as well as Emirates, displaying certificates from the airlines recognizing training that he provided. The network notes the apparent conflict of interest in Rubinstein doing private work for airlines he is tasked with overseeing.
It also airs footage from what it says is a webinar by Rubinstein on lessons the US learned from the September 11 attacks, during which he says the attacks “taught us that it is possible to hijack an aircraft without explosives, without weapons,” and that US authorities screen aircrew in advance, including through background checks conducted before departure.
“There is no such thing as passenger lists not being checked in advance,” Rubinstein says in the footage. “Today, aircrew as well… undergo security screening, including a background check, as well as physical screening prior to departure.”
At a Transportation Ministry briefing following the attack, Rubinstein reportedly said his department does not conduct intelligence background checks on foreign crews.
“We are not an intelligence agency that conducts intelligence background checks on crews. The security division is not the Shin Bet. We don’t have security personnel abroad,” he reportedly said, explaining that Israel relies on airlines, foreign governments and competent authorities in countries of origin.
Rubinstein and the Transportation Ministry both declined the network’s requests for comment.
The Times of Israel Community.