Israel had Flydubai crew list before flight where copilot attacked captain

Israeli authorities held the list of people on board Flydubai flight FZ1073 before it departed, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. On that flight, on 30 September, the copilot seriously injured the captain and apparently tried to bring the aircraft down. Passengers and an off-duty crew intervened, and the incident did not become a disaster.

Under Israeli law, foreign airlines must send information on crew and passengers to the Israeli tax authority 48 hours before a flight. Responsibility for security screening of foreign crews officially rests with the transport ministry, though the newspaper reports that in practice the foreign intelligence service, the Mossad, has the capability and the role.

The tax authority told Haaretz it had received the lists for the Flydubai flight and referred further questions to the transport ministry. The ministry did not answer Haaretz's question on whether it had actually received and checked the crew list.

Yitzhak Raz, a lawyer and former head of the accident investigation unit at the transport ministry and former head of the civil aviation authority, told the newspaper there was no doubt the transport ministry, with the involvement of the Shin Bet and the Mossad, is responsible for security matters involving foreign airlines. The article leaves open why no alarm was raised before the copilot boarded the flight to Tel Aviv.