Israeli Agencies Flagged Foreign Flight Threats, Transport Body Ignored Them: Report
Israeli opposition leaders are calling for the resignation of Transport Minister Miri Regev following reports that security warnings regarding foreign flight oversight were ignored. Internal documents suggest that the ministry failed to meet security obligations for international commercial flights.
Why it matters
It highlights a significant lapse in national security oversight that potentially endangered commercial aviation, sparking political instability ahead of elections.
With Israel weeks away from general elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a pressure from Opposition leaders to fire his transport minister after an Omani co-pilot tried to crash a Tel Aviv-bound plane from Dubai.The demand for Transport Minister Miri Regev's resignation came amid reports that top Israeli bodies had warned for years that her ministry was not properly carrying out its security checks on foreign flights, including oversight of their pilots.The opposition leaders questioned how a pilot from a country with no diplomatic relations with Israel was cleared to operate a flight bound for Tel Aviv.Report Flags LapsesThe Times of Israel, citing internal documents seen by the Army Radio, has reported that concerns over the division of responsibility for screening foreign airlines had been raised for years.In 2021, the security cabinet removed responsibility from the Shin Bet -- Israel's domestic intelligence agency -- and said that the Transportation…
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