'We are not an intelligence body': Israel on background checks for pilots flying in after flydubai case
Israel's Transportation Ministry has said it does not conduct background checks on pilots flying into the country and cannot guarantee that those flights are "100 percent" safe, amid growing questions over whether the Israeli government could have prevented the near-disaster aboard flydubai Flight 1073 earlier this week.
Israeli passengers arrive at Ben Gurion Airport after the Flydubai rescue flight landed in Tel Aviv. (TPS-IL)“We are not an intelligence body that checks the intelligence background of foreigners,” a representative of the division said in a statement, according to Israel daily Ynet. “We have no forces abroad. We have no staff that checks every person there.”
According to Bloomberg, Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami, who assaulted the commanding Indian captain on the flydubai flight enroute to Tel Aviv from Dubai, previously flew aircraft for Oman Air before he was dismissed for engaging with what were considered radical views. Reports claimed he attacked Captain Smit Machchar with a crash axe, an emergency tool normally kept in the cockpit.
The ministry said it could not say how many pilots from hostile states have flown into Israel, and would not guarantee that foreign airline flights are fully secure. It added that background checks are left to the airlines. “Nothing is 100% when it comes to security,” it said.
The plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after a descent so extreme that part of the rudder was torn away, and aviation experts have marvelled that it didn't crash. Flydubai has said crew travelling on the plane helped to stabilise it and land.
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