UAE had shared details about FlyDubai flight with Israel, including pilots' names and nationalities

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UAE had shared details about FlyDubai flight with Israel, including pilots' names and nationalities

2026-10-04 18:21 Last Updated At：18:40

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shared with Israel a list of passengers and crew ahead of the FlyDubai flight on which a pilot attempted to seize control of the Israel-bound aircraft and crash it, regional officials said Sunday, raising new questions over how the attacker evaded detection.

While the investigation continues, preliminary details about the incident have highlighted several major security lapses. Officials already have said the Omani co-pilot had been barred from flying by his own country because of concerns about his extremist views. It also remains unclear how a citizen of Oman, an Arab country that has no diplomatic relations with Israel, was allowed to fly a planeload of Israelis to Tel Aviv.

The United Arab Emirates, which is leading the investigation, said the co-pilot attacked the flight's captain with the cockpit’s crash ax and tried to take control of the plummeting plane in a “terrorist attack” Wednesday. His actions nearly crashed the flight with 182 people on board before the Indian captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and others to rush in and subdued the attacker.

The regional officials said Emirati authorities had shared information about the passengers and crew, including their nationalities. Israel hadn’t raised red flags on any passenger or member of the crew, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters about the probe.

The passengers who halted the attack and helped regain control of the aircraft have been hailed as heroes in Israel.

But officials have begun to raise difficult questions and trade accusations about the security blunders that could have led to a major disaster.

The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, said the Transportation Ministry is responsible for vetting passenger lists from foreign flights. Transportation Minister Miri Regev told Israel’s public broadcaster Kan that the security agencies are responsible for flight security and that her ministry wasn’t given a list of passengers or any warnings.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has long-standing agreements with foreign carriers to keep pilots from flying into the country if they are citizens of nations that don’t maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.

It also remains unclear how FlyDubai, a low-cost Emirati airline that operates flights between Israel and the UAE, had failed to identify the Omani pilot as a security risk. Philip Baum, a visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University in England who wrote a book about aircraft hijackings and bombings, said background check systems differ from country to country and there are limits on what types of information can be shared.

“In terms of aviation security itself, obviously we want to have as robust background checks as possible. But there are huge limitations on doing background checks in any case, especially in cross-border checks,” he said.

Germany's Merz visits Kyiv as Russia steps up attacks on Ukrainian cities

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv Sunday in a show of support as Russia escalated its attacks on Ukrainian cities.

The aerial war has intensified, with Moscow menacing cities across Ukraine with hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones, while Kyiv has been striking Russia’s oil industry and businesses.

Merz said he traveled to the Ukrainian capital on his second trip as chancellor to demonstrate his country's solidarity with Ukraine. Germany is Ukraine’s largest donor, sending Kyiv more than €43.3 billion ($48.8 billion) since the war began, along with equipment and weapons.

“If Russia is not stopped, its war machine will sooner or later turn against us,” he said in a statement Sunday, adding that he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “You can continue to count on our help.”

Merz said the partnership between the two countries was “not a one-way street,” pointing to German and Ukrainian companies jointly developing technologies that benefit both sides. “This makes us safer and stronger,” he said.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy thanked Germany and said the two countries would make “important agreements” during the visit to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses and those of the rest of Europe. “Russia must be stopped together,” he wrote.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the agenda would focus on "strengthening Ukraine, our defense and resilience, and our shared European security.”

Merz and Zelenskyy visited a building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in central Kyiv that was damaged in a Russian attack on Monday, as air raid sirens sounded across the capital.

“These barbaric attacks on the civilian population of Ukraine must stop. These are daily war crimes,” Merz said at the site, a few hundred meters from the German Embassy. Addressing Russian President Vladimir Putin, he called on him to end “this senseless war,” adding: “We’re ready to talk.”

Speaking in English, Zelenskyy called the attack on the academy “absolutely terrible” and noted that Russia was carrying out strikes even while the chancellor was in Kyiv. He thanked Merz for the visit, saying Ukraine was buoyed by its “strong partners.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday it would continue to carry out “mass retaliatory strikes” on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, urging foreign nationals and diplomats to leave ‌the country. It previously issued a similar warning in May.

The German and Russian foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders last month in what was believed to be the first such face-to-face meeting since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia's Sergey Lavrov rejected German calls to ease off its “dangerous path of escalation” toward the country, and instead accused Germany of being Ukraine’s main sponsor and seeking to be a leading military power in Europe.

Ties between Russia and Germany have soured even more in recent weeks, following an attempted drone attack in early September at Leipzig airport. Germany has blamed Russia for the incident and announced the closure of the German consulate in St. Petersburg, the latest in a cycle of tit-for-tat moves.

Meanwhile, Merz's power inside Germany has taken a blow after a string of state election defeats last month, including losses to the anti-migration and Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany party. However, he said he intends to remain chancellor.

On Sunday morning, Russian attacks continued with a drone hitting Kyiv’s Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River again, Zelenskyy said. Video circulating on social media showed the drone flying into the bridge and the explosion as vehicles crossed. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The latest strike came after Russian assaults forced the full or partial closure of three of Kyiv’s six road bridges over the Dnipro River earlier this week, suspending traffic and causing tailbacks in Moscow’s latest effort to disrupt life in the Ukrainian capital. Previously, Russia has hit apartment blocks, supermarket warehouses, gas stations and data centers, among other targets.

Seven people were wounded Sunday in a Russian aerial bomb attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, local officials said.

Russia invaded its neighbor more than 4½ years ago, and there are no concrete signs that a peace settlement might be possible. Fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line snaking through northern, eastern and southern Ukraine has been virtually deadlocked in recent months.

Dazio reported from Berlin and Morton from London.