Conflicting Israeli Accounts Turn Flydubai Co-Pilot’s Nationality Into Online Battle

The latest:

The aviation rule that Israeli officials said was broken when an Omani co-pilot was assigned to a Tel Aviv flight may not exist. Sources familiar with the investigation told The Jerusalem Post the UAE-Israel bilateral aviation agreement contains no nationality requirement, contradicting an Israeli Transportation Ministry account from two days earlier that called the assignment a clear breach.

Details:

• The original claim: A Transportation Ministry source told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that flydubai’s operating arrangement required pilots on Israel-bound flights to hold passports from countries that normalized relations with Israel, called the Omani co-pilot’s presence a breach, and demanded a Shin Bet investigation.
• The reversal: By Friday, sources familiar with the investigation told the same newspaper the bilateral agreement imposed no nationality provision, and that the suspect held no second nationality. That removed the dual-passport theory offered online to explain how he was assigned the route.
• What stays open: The Friday reporting addressed the bilateral aviation agreement only, leaving unestablished whether flydubai operated under a separate operating, immigration or security arrangement restricting crew nationalities on Israel routes, and therefore whether any rule was violated at all.
• Why nationality: Oman has no diplomatic relations with Israel, which made the suspect’s citizenship politically charged in a way a crew member’s nationality normally would not be. Al Jazeera reported Israeli investigators were examining how an Omani national joined the crew on the route.
• Conspiracy surge: The Times of Israel reported two antisemitism-monitoring organizations found large volumes of X posts framing the incident as a false-flag operation. The Combat Antisemitism Movement said it counted 2,963 posts blaming Israel, the Mossad, Netanyahu, Zionists or Jews over a 12-hour period.
• The numbers: The same group said the first such allegation appeared 67 minutes after the aircraft transmitted its initial distress signal, and that roughly 72% of more than 4,000 posts using the phrase false flag promoted claims blaming Israel or Jews.
• The other direction: Arabic-language discussion also centred on the suspect’s Omani nationality, with some users folding it into a wider argument over normalization with Israel, others challenging the credibility of Israeli reporting, and others objecting to collective attribution to Omanis.
• Official positions: Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, called the incident a serious terrorist act and warned against oversimplified explanations and conspiracy theories. Attorney-General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi assigned a specialized prosecution team and urged the public not to circulate unverified information.
• Motive unresolved: Netanyahu said the suspect underwent Islamist radical indoctrination and appeared suicidal, while acknowledging the investigation had not concluded. Israeli security officials cited by Reuters assessed he acted alone. Emirates News Agency said prosecutors were instructed to determine whether advance planning or external direction was involved.
• Diplomatic track: Israeli Ambassador Yossi Shelley told The Jerusalem Post the incident had not weakened bilateral relations. Transportation Minister Miri Regev had earlier sought a halt to flydubai flights. The UAE Foreign Ministry said Emirati law applies because the aircraft is UAE-registered.

Background:

Flight FZ1073 left Dubai for Ben Gurion airport on September 30 before a cockpit confrontation. Flydubai said travelling crew regained control and diverted to Tabuk. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority called it a security incident with some crew injured.

Between the lines:

Three explanations remain for the contradiction already visible in the record: Israeli officials misread the agreement’s terms, a separate security arrangement carries restrictions the bilateral deal does not, or different agencies interpreted crew-nationality rules differently. Which one holds determines whether this is an enforcement failure, a regulatory gap, or an assumption that hardened into fact during the first hours.

What’s next

The UAE prosecution team’s findings on motive, premeditation and external direction, and any clarification from Israeli or Emirati authorities of what nationality restrictions actually governed flydubai crews on the Dubai-Tel Aviv route.