Cargo plane turned back to Africa over Indonesian crew member

An unusual security incident occurred early Tuesday morning when an Ethiopian Airlines cargo plane en route to Ben Gurion Airport was forced to turn around and return to Addis Ababa.

According to a report on Channel 13, the dramatic denial of entry was due to the presence of an Indonesian national among the crew on board. Indonesia maintains no diplomatic relations with Israel, and entry of its citizens requires special permits that are not granted as a matter of routine.

Details of the incident reveal that the crew manifest was transmitted to Israeli authorities with a delay, only after the plane had already taken off from Africa. However, unlike past incidents, the Israeli system immediately identified the irregular presence and flagged it, leading to an immediate decision to prevent the aircraft from entering Israeli airspace and requiring it to turn back.

The successful identification this time comes against the backdrop of security and diplomatic tensions surrounding an earlier failure. Officials note that this time the system functioned as required, in complete contrast to the chain of failures that enabled the attempted attack on the Fly Dubai flight recently.

As will be recalled, on the Fly Dubai flight that was headed to Israel, an Omani co-pilot attempted to seize control of the aircraft and crash it into the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion. The horrific attack was thwarted by Divine mercy after the flight crew and passengers fought the terrorist, who had pulled out an emergency axe. According to the investigation by the United Arab Emirates Attorney General, the terrorist planned the act inspired by the September 11 terror attacks.

Meanwhile, it emerges that tensions with the United Arab Emirates over the passenger flight incident are escalating. A professional meeting scheduled to take place this week between senior Israeli Transport Ministry officials and their counterparts in the UAE was abruptly cancelled.

In addition, it turns out that despite the severity of the incident, the Emiratis have yet to present Israel with the findings of the investigation they conducted into the attempted attack on the Fly Dubai flight. In Israel, the Transport Ministry has completed its preliminary investigation of the severe failure that nearly led to an aviation disaster, but officials involved in the matter admit that extensive portions and many details of the affair are still missing and have not yet been fully clarified.

It should be noted that following the Fly Dubai incident, the airline reached out to passengers nearly two weeks after the event and offered psychological support, but refrained from addressing financial compensation for the traumatic incident.