Flydubai attack plot exposed gaps in Oman, UAE, and Israeli security checks

Oman detected signs that Flydubai pilot Hamam al-Hamami was undergoing Islamist radicalization but issued no international warning, allowing him to be hired by the Emirati airline and assigned to a flight to Israel that investigators believe he intended to crash at Ben Gurion Airport. Flydubai checked al-Hamami's criminal record but not his extremist links, while Israeli authorities never received the crew list before the flight. The alleged attack was thwarted by the resistance of Indian captain Smith Machachar and actions of Israeli passengers, with the aircraft losing 16,000 feet of altitude in under a minute. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a review of foreign aviation security following the incident, though oversight bodies have traded blame over who was responsible for detecting the threat. Investigators are examining whether al-Hamami acted alone or with direction from a state or terrorist organization, including a teenage trip to Syria during its civil war.