Failure of Israel’s screening process which allowed an Omani co-pilot on a flight to Tel Aviv have reportedly prompted the US to scrutinize the Jewish state’s inclusion in the visa waiver program.By World Israel News StaffIsrael’s visa-free travel arrangement with the United States is facing renewed scrutiny after the attempted terrorist attack aboard a Flydubai flight exposed serious gaps in the screening of foreign airline crews flying into the country.A US delegation is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days to examine whether the country continues to meet the security requirements of the Visa Waiver Program, Channel 12 reported Tuesday evening, which allows eligible Israelis to travel to the US without obtaining a conventional visa.The delegation is currently in the United Arab Emirates examining aviation security procedures there and is expected to conduct a review in Israel connected to obligations undertaken when the country was admitted to the program in 2023.The examination comes one week after Omani copilot Hamam al-Hammami attacked Captain Smit Machchhar aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30.Al-Hammami attacked Machchhar with an emergency crash ax and attempted to bring down the aircraft, which was carrying roughly 180 people, most of them Israelis. The wounded captain succeeded in opening the cockpit, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker before other pilots regained control and landed the aircraft safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.The incident has since triggered a widening investigation into how al-Hammami was permitted to serve on a flight to Israel despite his Omani citizenship and reported history of extremist activity.Authorities had received the flight’s passenger and crew information before departure, including the pilots’ names and nationalities, but al-Hammami was not flagged.Reports have since indicated that he had previously been barred from flying by Oman Air because of concerns over extremist views and had posted material supportive of Al Qaeda online.The controversy has drawn particular attention because the system Israel uses to collect and analyze advance passenger and crew information was established in 2023 as part of the country’s effort to enter the US Visa Waiver Program.Legislation approved by the Knesset created a national center empowered to receive information from airlines on both passengers and crew members before flights arrive in Israel.The information includes names, nationalities, passport details and flight information and can be used for purposes including counterterrorism and civil aviation security.The database can be accessed by several government bodies, including the Shin Bet, Mossad, police, Transportation Ministry and Population and Immigration Authority.The Flydubai attack has exposed a dispute over what happened to that information once it entered the Israeli system and which agency was responsible for acting on it.The Transportation Ministry has insisted that Flydubai itself had undertaken to vet its crews.“Flydubai received explicit instructions, committed to carrying out the required background checks on its crews,” the ministry said following the attack.It added that its own Security Division did not receive the crew list for Flight FZ1073 and did not have access to the flight lists.Those claims have fueled questions over why a system designed to provide advance passenger and crew information for security screening apparently failed to prevent a pilot with al-Hammami’s background from flying toward Israel.The scale of the issue widened further Tuesday when a closed Knesset security discussion revealed that approximately 1,240 airline crew members from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel had entered the country over the past year.The group reportedly included citizens of Oman, Syria and Lebanon.Following the hearing, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth said, “The face of civil aviation in Israel will change from today.”Under new measures now being considered, information on crew members from countries designated as higher-risk would be transferred to Israeli security agencies at least 48 hours before departure.Transportation Minister Miri Regev has also proposed requiring foreign passengers and airline crews to obtain a special aviation authorization before traveling to Israel. People holding passports from countries classified as particularly sensitive could face additional screening by the Shin Bet and Mossad.The proposal is reportedly facing resistance over concerns that foreign governments could retaliate by imposing similar requirements on Israeli travelers.The security failures have also revived scrutiny of decisions made inside the Transportation Ministry before the attack.Security officials reportedly proposed in 2025 assigning a Shin Bet official to the ministry to help evaluate threats associated with foreign and charter flights, but the proposal was rejected.The ministry was also offered specialized instruction in aviation threat assessment and intelligence methods, while officials reportedly urged it to seek additional funding to modernize aviation-security systems.Earlier this year, security officials pushed for responsibility for foreign-flight security to be transferred to the larger Civil Aviation Authority.Regev ultimately decided to leave the responsibility with the ministry’s Security Division, writing that she wanted to “avoid organizational upheavals at this time.”The fallout has also left Flydubai’s lucrative Israel route suspended.The airline has asked Israel for permission to resume flights, saying its internal investigation is nearing completion and that employees have been dismissed in the aftermath of the attack. Regev has so far rejected the request.Flydubai said immediately after the incident that “the safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew remain our highest priority.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a broader review of security procedures governing foreign flights to Israel.Immediately after the attack, Netanyahu praised those aboard the aircraft who intervened.“I salute these heroes, who displayed exceptional resourcefulness and courage,” he said. “They saved many lives. They prevented a huge disaster.”The post Flydubai terror attack could make it harder for Israelis to travel to the US – report appeared first on World Israel News.