Israeli passengers who had been aboard a FlyDubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia being welcomed at the arrivals gate at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv Israeli officials are set to question the Omani co-pilot who allegedly attempted to crash a commercial passenger flight from Dubai bound for Tel Aviv, as the incident triggers fresh scrutiny of Israel's aviation security. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said investigators are probing whether the co-pilot was acting under someone's direction and warned those involved would pay a "heavy price." Disaster was averted on flydubai Flight FZ1073 after passengers and crew subdued the co-pilot, who allegedly stabbed the captain in an apparent attempt to crash the plane carrying 174 people, on Wednesday. The plane was landed by a reserve crew at Tabuk airport, where Saudi authorities detained the co-pilot. The aircraft plunged about 16,625 feet in just over 30 seconds while flying over Saudi Arabia. According to a Channel 12 report cited by The Times of Israel, dozens of Omani pilots landed in Tel Aviv on flydubai flights despite Israel's ban on pilots from countries without diplomatic ties. The report said Shin Bet failed to enforce the restriction, calling it a major security lapse. Israel does not have official diplomatic relations with Oman, which means that pilots from such countries were not permitted to operate flights to Israel. It was not clear how the co-pilot came to be assigned to the flight to Tel Aviv. Israel follows stringent aviation security measures - including interaction with security officials, who are trained to identify suspicious behaviour, before check-in; presence of armed marshals on every international flight; double doors in the cockpit. However, the flydubai incident has flagged a major vulnerability. According to a report by The Times of Israel, foreign carriers, like flydubai, often fly to or from Ben Gurion Airport full of Israeli citizens, but don’t have the same security measures in place. According to an expert, Israel cannot limit the nationality of the foreign pilots flying into Israel, as long as they stay on the plane. Israeli investigators would take part in the UAE-led investigation alongside Emirati authorities, seeking to determine what happened and examine the suspect's motives and background. Earlier today, Anwar Gargash, adviser to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, described the incident as an "act of terrorism." The Emirati authorities have opened an investigation seeking to establish the circumstances and motives and determine "whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose, or involved prior planning or direction". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday warned in a video statement released by his office that whoever was involved would pay a "heavy price". He said that Israel was looking into whether the co-pilot had acted under anyone's direction. Earlier on Thursday, Netanyahu said that the pilot had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination and was clearly suicidal, but that so far a motive for his actions had not been established. Apoorva Shukla is a journalist at Times Now, where she thrives on dissecting political developments both at home and abroad. A graduate of Delhi Univ... View More