Ethiopian Airlines Cargo Plane Turned Back After Indonesian Crew Member Found Aboard
An Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight was forced to dump fuel and return to Addis Ababa after Israeli authorities discovered a crew member with Indonesian citizenship - a country with no diplomatic ties to Israel - only after the aircraft had already taken off.
An Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight bound for Israel was forced to turn back mid-route after Israeli authorities discovered a crew member held Indonesian citizenship. Indonesia has no diplomatic relations with Israel. The plane dumped fuel over the sea and returned to Addis Ababa, where the crew member was replaced. The incident follows a recent hijacking attempt by an Omani pilot on a flydubai flight, and has renewed scrutiny of how Israel screens foreign airline crews before departure.
Should Israel require crew manifests from foreign airlines before departure, not after?
- Yes
- No opinion
- No
The incident, reported by Ynet, has brought renewed attention to a persistent gap in Israel's aviation security screening: crew manifests from foreign airlines are currently transmitted to Israeli authorities only after a flight has departed, not before. In this case, that delay meant an Indonesian national - a citizen of a country that does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel - was already airborne and en route to Israeli airspace before anyone on the ground could act. The plane was denied entry, dumped fuel over the sea, and returned to Ethiopia, where the crew member was replaced.
The episode comes in the wake of a recent attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight by an Omani pilot - another citizen of a country with no ties to Israel - who was assigned to the flight despite his carrier having pledged to block such crew assignments. According to Ynet, the Transport Ministry's security division did not connect to the National Passenger Screening Center database to check crew nationalities for the three years the system has existed, and only sought access after a closed Knesset committee session last week. Officials have since been told the system cannot technically produce crew nationality data 48 hours in advance as the law requires, and that the data updates only close to departure - too late for preventive action.
The core question is whether Israel should require foreign airlines to submit crew lists before departure as a binding condition of flight, rather than relying on post-takeoff checks and airline self-certification. Supporters of pre-departure screening argue it would close a clear security vulnerability. Critics may point to the operational burden on airlines and the current technical limitations of the screening infrastructure.
A yes vote means you believe Israel should make pre-departure crew manifest submission a firm requirement for all foreign airlines, so that anyone barred from entering Israeli airspace can be identified and removed before the flight takes off. A no vote means you think the current system - or other measures - is adequate, or that the practical and diplomatic costs of imposing pre-departure requirements on foreign carriers outweigh the security benefit. The poll is trying to surface where public opinion stands on tightening crew screening rules in the wake of two incidents involving crew members from countries without diplomatic ties to Israel.