Israel's Transportation Ministry denies receiving promised aviation-security resources

Israel's Transportation Ministry says it has not received the additional funding and positions it requested as a condition for accepting responsibility for charter-flight security. Its statement disputes a claim that it had received those resources about a year earlier and failed to use them.

In its account of the budget discussions, the ministry said the Finance Ministry had made a written commitment to provide the additional funding and positions. It said it had repeatedly asked for that commitment to be honored.

The dispute comes after an attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv prompted scrutiny of responsibility for securing foreign flights entering Israel. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed National Security Council head Shmuel Ben-Ezra to appoint an overseer to conduct a thorough review of all security aspects of foreign civil aviation to Israel.

An Israeli official said the FlyDubai co-pilot told interrogators in the United Arab Emirates last week that he had planned the alleged attack before joining the airline more than a year ago. The co-pilot is alleged to have attempted to hijack a flight to Israel.

The Sept. 30 flight was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain with the aircraft's crash ax and attempted to crash the plane, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passengers aboard and the captain.

Israeli passengers and FlyDubai staff overpowered the co-pilot. Two off-duty pilots who were aboard then gained control of the aircraft and made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

Following the alleged attempted hijacking, Israel's transportation ministry and its domestic and foreign security agencies have each said they were not responsible for vetting foreign flight crews.

Israeli official says FlyDubai co-pilot planned attack before joining airline

Community discussion