Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight denied landing in Israel, forced to turn around, due to Indonesian pilot

An Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight from Addis Ababa was forced to turn around midair overnight between Sunday and Monday, after Israel refused to let it land because the pilot is a citizen of Indonesia, according to Hebrew media reports.

Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Indonesia.

The incident came less than two weeks after an attack aboard a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, in which an Omani pilot stabbed his copilot in an attempt to crash the plane into Ben Gurion Airport, and was thwarted by the intervention of several passengers.

In the wake of the incident, it was revealed that hundreds of crew members from enemy states have flown into Israel, in a major security risk.

The list of crew members on the Ethiopian Airlines flight was only sent to Israel after takeoff, Channel 13 reported on Monday. According to the Ynet news site, the plane returned to Addis Ababa, dumping its fuel in the sea along the way, where the pilot was replaced with another who was cleared to land in Israel.

Following the flydubai attack, the Transportation Ministry reportedly tightened rules for foreign airlines flying to Israel, barring crew members who hold citizenship in countries without formal diplomatic relations with Israel from operating or traveling aboard Israel-bound flights.

Pilots and other aircrew holding citizenship from countries including Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Pakistan have reportedly been easily able to fly into Israel in recent years.

In the wake of the flydubai incident, local media has reported that Israeli security bodies have been warning for years that the Transportation Ministry was not performing adequate security checks on foreign airlines and their crew members flying into Israel and inspecting Israeli flights operated by foreign carriers. The Transportation Ministry has responded that it doesn’t have the intelligence apparatus needed.

Channel 12 news reported last week that a letter sent by the Transportation Ministry the day after the attack stated that aircraft operators must not let citizens of enemy countries pilot, crew, or even travel on flights to Israel.

The letter reportedly warned the operators that the ministry will be conducting recurring assessments to ensure that they are implementing the necessary programs, measures, and procedures to address the threats and risks associated with flights to Israel, and noted that it will conduct “on-site audits.”

It also stated, the TV network reported, that the operators are responsible for ensuring that no pilots or cockpit crew members on flights that enter Israel’s Flight Information Region, or even on board the aircraft, are citizens or dual nationals of a country that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.