Open Source Intel reported that Israel's Transportation Ministry has issued new guidelines for foreign airlines that land in Israel or pass through its airspace. The move follows the attempted attack aboard a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv. The ministry has no way to verify whether carriers comply with the rules. Further steps are on the table, among them special visas or temporary passports for air crews.
Matzav reported that crew members from countries designated as high-risk will face security vetting 48 hours before departing for Israel. The procedure came up on Tuesday in a classified session of the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Under the plan, Israel's National Security Council will compile a list of countries considered a heightened security threat, together with the Mossad and the Shin Bet. Crew from those countries will have to hand over their identities and personal details two days before a scheduled flight. That window gives Israeli security agencies time to run background checks and approve them before takeoff.
A separate measure covers anyone flying on a passport from a country with no diplomatic relations with Israel. At the Transportation Ministry's request, the Population and Immigration Authority will be required to give the ministry's security division lists of passengers and crew members holding such passports.
The session followed days of dispute among Israeli government and security agencies over who should have screened the Flydubai crew. Citing earlier reports, Matzav said Israeli authorities had the flight's crew list in advance and objected to no one on it. That list included the Omani co-pilot later accused of attempting the attack.
