Israel turned a plane around mid-air — what was found on board

Israel turned a cargo plane from Ethiopia around after discovering an Indonesian citizen among the crew. The incident occurred amid tightened security following a failure in aviation safety, when it emerged that crew data had not been properly checked.

Israel turned a cargo plane en route from Ethiopia around after a preliminary crew check revealed an Indonesian citizen — a country with no diplomatic relations with Israel. The incident is one of the first public examples of enhanced controls introduced after a serious failure in the aviation security system. According to Channel 13, a procedure for transmitting crew data existed but was not properly verified: lists were sent to the Tax Authority server, but the Ministry of Transport did not carry out systematic checks. The Shin Bet was not responsible for checking foreign crews, and Mossad was only involved at the request of the Transport Ministry. The problem came to light after an incident on a FlyDubai flight where a second pilot, an Omani citizen, attempted a suicide attack. It then emerged that during the war, planes with crew members from countries without diplomatic relations had repeatedly arrived in Israel. Against this backdrop, airlines Arkia and Israir began independently checking foreign crews. The fact of Indonesian citizenship does not indicate involvement in illegal activity — the basis was non-compliance with access requirements.