Ethiopian passenger plane bound for Israel makes emergency return over pilot’s nationality

[Financial News] An incident has come to light in which an Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane bound for Israel, piloted by an Indonesian national from a country that has no diplomatic ties with Israel, had to turn back shortly after takeoff.
Israeli security officials and airport authorities learned of the situation and moved quickly to take decisive action.
According to a report by Israeli outlet N12 News on the 12th (local time), an Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane that had departed Ethiopia for Israel sometime between the 11th and 12th was ordered to turn back after it emerged that one of its pilots was an Indonesian national.
Indonesia, an Islamic country, currently has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Under Israeli law, nationals of countries with which Israel has no diplomatic relations are barred from entering Israel and from operating flights on security grounds.
According to reports, Israeli security officials and airport authorities identified the pilot while the plane was still in Ethiopian airspace and immediately ordered it to turn back. Ethiopian Airlines replaced the pilot after the plane returned, and the aircraft departed again and landed safely in Israel. The airline reportedly explained that it had not known in advance that the pilot was not authorized to operate flights to Israel.
Security alerts have been issued repeatedly in recent weeks concerning flights bound for Israel. At the end of last month, an attempted hijacking by a pilot from Oman aboard a Flydubai commercial flight from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Tel Aviv, Israel, caused a stir.
Last week, N12 reported, citing the intelligence subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, that about 1,200 airline crew members from countries with no diplomatic relations with Israel, including Iran, may have entered Israel so far.
According to participants at the meeting, an Israeli Transport Ministry official who was briefed on these security gaps was also reportedly deeply surprised. The incident is expected to make a comprehensive review of Israeli authorities’ aviation security and entry-screening systems inevitable.
[email protected] Yoon Jae-jun Reporter