The attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv may have been a planned operation by a state actor rather than a terrorist organization, i24NEWS Arab affairs analyst Zvi Yehezkeli assessed.
Yehezkeli, who previously worked as a security guard for an airline, said the incident exposed a vulnerability in aviation security and argued that the complexity of the alleged plot points to state involvement.
"Although Israel's aviation security apparatus is known for how tightly it seals security vulnerabilities, there is no doubt that something happened here that constituted a security breach, and that it was exploited by a state," Yehezkeli said.
"This is not the kind of thing a terrorist organization thinks up. Convincing a pilot, recruiting him to go against the prevailing trend, and getting him onto a flight with Israelis requires planning, and it is quite possible that Iran or its proxies are behind this. This was a very significant operation."
Yehezkeli warned that the incident raises broader questions about the security screening of flight crews operating routes to Israel.
"This is something that until now has not received enough attention," he said. "It must be remembered that Arab destinations, such as Dubai, are a significant headache for the security establishment."
"Today we realized that there are pilots whose company stands behind them, but there is no way of knowing what is going through their minds. I don't want to think about what could happen with European pilots who support the Palestinians and might do similar things. This is a security vulnerability that needs to be closed."
Yehezkeli also pointed to Israel's decades of experience in protecting civilian aviation and said the country's security establishment would now have to address the vulnerability highlighted by the incident.
"Generally, pilots at Arab airlines are those who have left European airlines and come to the Middle East," he said.
"Israel has led the field of aviation security since the 1970s and has closed all the vulnerabilities; it will have to close this vulnerability as well."