Transportation Ministry: Flydubai told us it had carried out checks on flight crew, we didn’t have access to list

Amid recriminations over security failures that led to the attack by a flydubai copilot on his captain last week as the flight headed toward Tel Aviv, the Transportation Ministry says that the airline said it had vetted the crew, while the ministry doesn’t have access to flight lists.

“Flydubai received explicit instructions, committed to carrying out the required background checks on its crews and announced in writing that it had implemented the national restrictions on flights to Israel in the crew assignment system,” the ministry says in a response to an Army Radio report that it was not meeting its legal obligations to perform security checks.

“The list of crew members for flight FZ1073 was not received by the Transportation Ministry, and the Security Division does not have access to the flight lists,” it says.

Army Radio reported that the ministry and its security division were given the task by the security cabinet, and later by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of overseeing security checks for foreign flights coming into Israel.

However, regional officials say that authorities in the United Arab Emirates shared with Israel a list of passengers and crew ahead of the FlyDubai flight. And the Israel Tax Authority — which under a 2023 law houses the center tasked with screening travelers to Israel — confirms to Haaretz that it received the list from flydubai.

It remains unclear whether that list reached the Transportation Ministry.

“The incident is under investigation by security officials,” says the ministry. “To the extent that a deviation from the instructions is found, it will be handled accordingly.”