Former prime minister and B’Yachad co-chairman Naftali Bennett drew a connection between the October 7 massacre and the flydubai attempted hijacking in a Sunday statement.
This comes after Transportation Minister Miri Regev denied responsibility for the incident, despite the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assigned her ministry the responsibility of conducting intelligence background checks on foreign airline pilots.
“There is a direct line connecting the plane failure to the October 7 massacre,” Bennett said.
“The arrogance of Netanyahu and his ministers: they fall asleep on guard duty and abandon us and Israel’s security. Any prime minister who cared about Israel’s security would have demanded answers from his transportation minister and thrown her out,” he added.
“But instead of investigating and drawing lessons in order to prevent the next disaster, Netanyahu and Miri Regev are celebrating the failure that happened on their watch.”
Bennett said Israelis were questioning what the Netanyahu administration was doing to prevent the next disaster, and urged Israelis to vote Netanyahu out in the upcoming October elections.
“We will replace them, put an end to the chaos, and return to governing Israel,” Bennett said.
Former transportation minister: 'Failure's name is Miri Regev'
Former transportation minister and the third person on B'Yachad's list, Keren Turner-Eyal, joined Bennett in the address and directly blamed Regev for the incident.
“This failure has a name: Miri Regev. She is the one who chose to make a decision contrary to the positions of the Shin Bet and the National Security Council, and who decided to ignore a severe State Comptroller’s report that states clearly: The Transportation Ministry’s security division does not have the ability to meet the required security objectives,” Turner-Eyal said.
“But for a few more powers and a few more jobs, Miri Regev chose to endanger all of our lives. This government is no longer going to investigate anything or draw any lessons," Turner-Eyal added.
“Fortunately for all of us, in 23 days we will replace them and prove to the public that it is possible to run a country without backroom deals and without endless failures.”
Regev denies responsibility for flydubai flight hijacking
The Transportation Ministry and Regev have come under scrutiny following the attempted terror hijacking by an Omani flydubai pilot who had previously landed at Ben-Gurion Airport, raising questions over what checks were carried out on foreign airline crews and which Israeli body was responsible for them.
On Saturday, Regev denied that her agency was responsible for vetting foreign airline crews.
"Aviation security is a very complex issue. The entire intelligence issue is divided between the Mossad and the Shin Bet," Regev said in an interview with KAN News.
She alleged the agencies had a clear division of responsibility.
"The Shin Bet is responsible for Israeli flights, and the Mossad is responsible for foreign companies. Flydubai is a foreign company. It is not connected to the Shin Bet but to the Mossad,” she added.
Notably, in 2021, the Shin Bet removed itself from responsibility for securing foreign flights while the Transportation Ministry did not act to assume that responsibility, according to a report published Sunday by Army Radio. The State Comptroller subsequently highlighted the issue in a classified report issued in May 2024, Army Radio reported.
Regev maintained that the Transportation Ministry was not sent a passenger or crew list.
"The list did not come to us because the body that is supposed to identify the crew is an intelligence body. We are not an intelligence body," she said.
However, in 2023, a law was enacted to regulate the security of Israeli aviation. It aimed to decentralize enforcement and monitoring powers so each body could access information without interfering with the others.
The law established Customs as the relevant government body responsible for collecting and analyzing flight and passenger data. The body is called the National Center for Passenger Data Analysis, known by its Hebrew acronym MALAN.
The center was established under dedicated legislation with the aim of receiving advance data from airlines on flights, passengers, and crew members entering or leaving Israel.
The body is intended to provide continuous information to each of the relevant organizations. Police receive information concerning criminals, individuals wanted for questioning, or information related to the transfer of drugs and illicit funds.