UAE gave Israel FlyDubai passenger list before incident — PBS NewsHour

The authorities of the United Arab Emirates provided Israel with a list of passengers and crew members of the FlyDubai flight before an incident aboard the aircraft bound for Tel Aviv. This was reported by PBS NewsHour, citing regional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to them, the information provided included data on passengers and crew, including their nationalities. Israel did not flag any passenger or crew member as a cause for concern.

Incident aboard the aircraft

The UAE, which is leading the investigation, said that on Wednesday, the Omani co-pilot attacked the captain with an emergency axe that was in the cockpit and tried to take control of the aircraft. Emirati authorities called the incident a terrorist attack. There were 182 people aboard.

According to the UAE, the co-pilot's actions nearly caused a crash. The captain, an Indian national, managed to open the cockpit door, after which passengers and other people aboard entered it and subdued the attacker.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Review of passenger lists

Officials had previously said that Oman had barred the co-pilot from flying because of concerns about his extremist views. It is also unclear how an Omani national, from a country with no diplomatic relations with Israel, ended up in the crew of a flight to Tel Aviv.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service said that reviewing passenger lists for foreign flights falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport. At the same time, Transport Minister Miri Regev told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that intelligence services are responsible for flight security and that her ministry had not received a passenger list or warnings.

Dvir Rubenstein, head of aviation security at the Ministry of Transport, said that the ministry relies on local screening and does not have the tools or ability to check every passenger on every flight.