UAE shared details about FlyDubai flight with Israel, including pilots’ names and nationalities -- regional officials claim

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Regional officials say authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) shared a list of passengers and crew members with Israel ahead of the FlyDubai flight on which the co-pilot attacked the captain in an attempt to seize control of the Israel-bound aircraft and crash it.

The disclosure on Sunday raises fresh questions over how the attacker, identified as Oman citizen, evaded detection.

It also comes amid reports that preliminary details from the investigation have highlighted several major security lapses.

The regional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly about the probe, said the nationalities of the passenger and crew aboard the FlyDubai flight was among the information shared with Israel.

According to the officials, Israel did not flag any of the passengers or crew.

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 security agencies are responsible for flight security and that her ministry was not given a list of passengers or any warnings.

Officials have already disclosed that the Omani co-pilot has 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 UAE, which is leading the investigation, said the co-pilot attacked the captain of the FlyDubai flight with the cockpit’s crash axe 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 an off-duty Indian airline pilot managed to open the cockpit door, allowing others to rush in and subdue the attacker.

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