October 2, 2026
A report prepared by journalist Amit Segal and broadcast by Israeli Channel 12 in its main evening bulletin revealed that the head of the Shin Bet Security Agency, David Zinni, warned for months of deficiencies in the security measures adopted for flights coming from the UAE.
The report explained that Israeli security authorities are investigating the hypothesis that a co-pilot at Fly Dubai was planning to control the plane while it was flying in Jordanian airspace, and then quickly shoot it down inside Israeli territory. The report indicated that this investigation path has not yet been decided and is still under examination and scrutiny.
Commenting on the incident, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday night: “They succeeded in preventing a disaster similar to September 11, as it appears from what happened.”
The report linked Zinni’s warnings to the incident, stressing that the additional security measures requested by the head of the Shin Bet could have played a fundamental role in thwarting the potential attack attempt. The report indicated that the Shin Bet is exclusively responsible for the security of flights of Israeli airlines, while the responsibility for thwarting threats targeting the flights of foreign companies falls on the Mossad.
The report pointed out that despite the significant increase in intelligence warnings about possible attacks, which mostly focused on scenarios of launching missiles or carrying out operations inside the airport, the scenario of seizing the plane and directing it to commit suicide had never been raised in any previous security discussion.
It is noteworthy that the Shin Bet had issued directives to Israeli airlines last July prohibiting landing in Dubai until the end of October, due to the security tension in the region and the fear of a possible escalation with Iran, before the agency extended the ban recently.
The ban was limited to Israeli companies (“El Al,” “Arkia,” and “Israir”), and did not apply to foreign airlines. This enabled Flydubai to continue operating 10 regular daily flights on the Tel Aviv-Dubai route, despite the ongoing security warnings and sharp disagreements between the Shin Bet and airlines regarding the adequacy of protection measures.
