Israel 'exploiting' flydubai attack for 'political purposes', claims UAE official

As the Israelis who had been aboard the flydubai flight FZ1073 wait to return home after the mid-air scare on September 30, the UAE allegedly criticised Israel for poorly handling the situation.

Accusing Israel of "stopping" flydubai's repatriation flights to Israel, a senior Emirati official close to the UAE government claimed to Israeli media outlet N12 that "the Emirates felt they were seeing the attack being exploited for political purposes".

He added that Israel stalling these flights and making things difficult had given way to the notion that they were making decisions based on their upcoming October 27 elections, rather than using logic.

After the cockpit clash between the Sep 30 flight's captain, Smit Machchhar and his Omani co-pilot, the latter was subdued, and a team of off-duty pilots onboard the flight had managed to land the aircraft safely in Saudi Arabia's Tabuk.

The Emirati official also criticised the use of the phrase 'rescue flights', telling N12 that this would give a negative impression of the UAE as a war zone.

Bad optics are bad news for any airport, but especially for ones like the Dubai International Airport, which built some of its reputation around being safe in a volatile region, opined aviation security expert Philip Baum.

“(The UAE) are very conscious of the fact, a little bit like Israel in many respects, that they cannot afford to have a terrorist attack happening on a flight out of there,” he told The Associated Press.

What is the repatriation flight issue about?

The official's alleged comments came after the UAE cancelled landing permits for Israeli repatriation flights on Thursday night, and then approved them on Friday morning, amid intensified security checks.

However, they reportedly added a requirement that Israeli airlines are having difficulty accepting, due to which they have accused Tel Aviv of stalling the process.

The N12 report claimed that the UAE had demanded an additional empty cargo plane be sent alongside every flight departing to Israel, just to carry luggage. This delayed scheduled flights by carriers like Arkia and IsraAir.

However, THE WEEK could not independently verify these claims.

The flydubai probe so far

The multi-nation probe into the flydubai flight scare of September 30 has so far not yet revealed the identity of the Omani co-pilot who stabbed Smit Machchhar.

However, multiple reports confirm that he did not hold a dual citizenship, and that he was Omani itself. The UAE has now labelled him a "terrorist" as well, as it investigates the issue alongside Israel and Saudi Arabia.

In fact, Israeli investigators have been granted access to join the UAE's probe and question the Omani co-pilot after he was transferred to the Emirates on Thursday, a Reuters report said, citing officials in the know.

Also, a day after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the Omani co-pilot had been radicalised, he also warned that "whoever sent this pilot will pay a very heavy price", pointing to the ongoing investigation into whether the co-pilot had acted alone or not.