Security gaps and questions about allowing an Omani deputy pilot to work on a Flydubai flight to Israel

Tel Aviv - Ofoq News - New details about the Omani deputy pilot, Humam Al-Hammami, who is suspected of trying to control and shoot down a Flydubai plane, have raised a series of questions about the loopholes that allowed him to work on the flight to Israel, despite the absence of official diplomatic relations between Israel and the Sultanate of Oman, and despite reports that he had previously been suspended from work against the backdrop of what was described as religious-jihadist extremism.

The plane eventually landed safely, but new details regarding the background of the deputy pilot and the procedures that preceded his appointment on the flight raised questions in Israel about responsibility for the security screening procedures, the entities that were supposed to deal with the information available about him, and who would investigate these loopholes.

How was an Omani deputy pilot allowed to reach Israel?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had acknowledged in an interview with the Fox network that there was a "loophole" exploited by the Omani deputy pilot, which was to allow a citizen of a country that does not have official diplomatic relations with Israel to fly a plane there.

At the beginning of the examination, the possibility was raised in the Israeli Ministry of Transportation that the deputy pilot had another nationality, which could have explained how he was included on a flight to Israel. However, this possibility turned out to be incorrect, and according to reports, Al-Hamami does not have an additional nationality.

What did Israel know about his background?

According to ABC, Oman Air suspended Al-Hammami from work in 2024, after he succumbed to what the network described as religious-jihadist extremism, and was found in possession of “extremist materials” at the time, which led to his transfer to an administrative position.

The Saudi Al-Arabiya network also reported that Al-Hamami succumbed to this extremism during his stay in Syria, noting that he spent most of his time outside the Sultanate of Oman, especially in Syria.

In the same context, the Wall Street Journal reported that it was not clear whether this information was transferred to Flydubai before it contracted with him earlier this year.

Royal Air Maroc announced that Hammami underwent training for three months, but was not accepted to work there, making it the second airline to refuse to hire him after Oman Air, before he later joined Flydubai.

Warnings regarding the security of flights coming from the Emirates

The investigations also touched on warnings issued by the head of the Israeli Shin Bet Security Service, David Zinni, regarding the level of security on flights coming from the Emirates.

According to the report, Zinni warned during the past months that the security measures on flights coming from the Emirates do not provide, from his point of view, the required level of protection. A dispute also broke out during the weeks preceding the incident between Shin Bet and Israeli airlines, after the agency prevented Israeli companies from operating flights to the Emirates for security reasons.

The report indicated that Zinni's warnings were mainly related to Israeli flights, for which the Shin Bet is responsible for their security, while Flydubai is a foreign airline and is not subject to the agency's direct oversight in the same way.

According to sources quoted in the report, the concerns raised by the Shin Bet included the level of security on flights coming from the UAE to Israel, with the possibility that security measures on foreign flights will be less stringent. The report considered that tightening security measures could have prevented an incident of this kind, noting that Zinni did not demand stopping flights coming from the Emirates.

Is there a mechanism to check the backgrounds of foreign pilots?

The report raised questions about the lack of a clear mechanism for dealing with security information related to foreign aircraft crew members.

In 2023, the Knesset approved a law requiring airlines to transfer all data of passengers and crew members to Israel, within the framework of visa exemption arrangements with the United States.

According to the report, this data is transferred to the Tax Authority to maintain privacy, while the Israeli security services, including the Mossad, the Shin Bet, and the police, insisted on accessing the information with the aim of combating terrorism. The report indicated that the question is whether this data, which includes crew members, was used as required in the case of the Omani deputy pilot.

What data do airlines transfer to Israel?

According to the report, airlines are required to provide advance data to Israel on passengers and crew members through the National Center for Passenger Data Identification, affiliated with the Tax Authority.

Data related to crew members includes identification information, nationality, and travel documents. Also, the information in the center is not available to the tax authority alone, but can be accessed by various government agencies according to the powers specified by law, including the Ministry of Transportation, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, and the police.

The Ministry of Transportation confirmed, according to the report, that it is not the body responsible for conducting intelligence checks on the security backgrounds of foreign pilots, and does not have the intelligence tools available to the security services.

However, the report indicated, on the other hand, that the Ministry’s Security Department bears responsibility for the field of aviation security, and among its tasks is “the security diagnosis of foreign flights transiting or coming to Israel.” It also operates an aviation security operational center that coordinates the security aspects related to the arrival of aircraft to Israel.

According to the report, a distinction should be made between the intelligence examination of a person’s background, which falls within the jurisdiction of the security services, and the security diagnosis of a foreign flight. The report therefore raises a question about who was supposed to use the data in the systems, including the identity and nationality of the deputy pilot, to determine whether he met the relevant conditions for traveling to Israel.

Who will investigate the loopholes?

If it turns out that information related to the pilot was available to the Israeli authorities, but the competent authorities did not discover the problem in a timely manner, the investigation will need to determine the point at which the defect occurred, whether this was in the operating company, in the transfer of information, in examination procedures, or in coordination between the various parties.

The report believes that the investigation in this case should not be limited to the behavior of the airline, but should also include the instructions and procedures followed in Israel, and the way various parties deal with the information they receive.

The state comptroller's report re-asks questions of responsibility

The incident brought to the forefront a previous report by Israeli State Comptroller Netanyahu Engelman, published in May 2024, which addressed the security of international civil aviation to and from Israel.

The audit was conducted between April 2022 and June 2023, and included aviation departing from Ben Gurion Airport, Israeli aviation security abroad, as well as the security of foreign and private civilian aircraft entering Israeli airspace. The audit included, among other parties, the Shin Bet, the Ministry of Transportation, the Airports Authority, and the Israeli National Security Council, while a large part of the results remained confidential for reasons related to state security.

The State Comptroller recommended that joint action be conducted between the National Security Council, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Finance, the Airports Authority, the Shin Bet, and the police, to examine international aviation security in Israel in its various aspects, including foreign flights coming into the country.

He also called for reorganizing responsibilities and allocating resources to ensure a “comprehensive vision,” and asked the Prime Minister, the Minister of Transportation, and the Minister of Finance to formulate a comprehensive policy in the field of aviation security.

The report indicated that the State Comptroller's report did not specifically address the security of flights coming from the Emirates specifically, nor did it include a ruling regarding the flaw that appeared in the current incident, but its recommendations regarding the distribution of responsibilities gained new importance in light of questions about who was supposed to discover the "flaw."

In the same context, Knesset members, including Averett Reiten, Ram Ben Barak, Halili Tropper, and Oved Forer, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, called for an urgent session to be held with the participation of the head of the Shin Bet, against the backdrop of reports that spoke of early warnings about security problems on flights coming from the Emirates.

The Knesset members indicated in their request that the actions of the passengers and crew members prevented a serious accident, and demanded an examination of the aviation security system and the procedures that preceded the accident.