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More than 1,200 foreign airline crew members from countries that do not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel have been permitted to enter the country since the beginning of 2026, including citizens of Syria, Lebanon and Oman, according to newly revealed figures that are raising fresh questions about Israel’s screening of foreign aviation personnel.

The number, reported Tuesday by Kan News, has taken on particular significance following the attempted hijacking of a FlyDubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, after it emerged that the Omani co-pilot accused of carrying out the attack had previously drawn the attention of authorities in his own country over concerns about extremist activity.

The figure does not mean that the 1,200 crew members were suspected of terrorism or other wrongdoing. Rather, it highlights the extent to which foreign airline personnel from countries ordinarily subject to heightened Israeli entry restrictions routinely arrive as part of international flight crews — and has fueled questions about exactly how those individuals are vetted before being permitted to fly into Israel.

The Omani co-pilot at the center of the FlyDubai attack, Imam Al-Hamami, had not previously escaped the notice of authorities. According to reports that emerged following the attack, Omani officials had become concerned about his online activity and what they regarded as an excessive interest in radical ideology.

Those concerns were serious enough that Al-Hamami was reportedly removed from flying duties at Oman Air, the country’s national carrier. He was transferred to an office position and sent through an anti-extremism program.

But the information apparently stopped there. The Wall Street Journal reported that the concerns surrounding Al-Hamami were not transmitted to other relevant authorities or entered into a system that would have prevented him from obtaining another aviation job abroad.

Al-Hamami subsequently secured employment with FlyDubai. According to information published since the attack, the airline did not approach Omani authorities for a detailed account of his previous employment or the reasons he had stopped flying for Oman Air. Instead, the hiring process reportedly relied on a criminal-background check that did not reveal the earlier security concerns.

The apparent gap proved particularly consequential because Al-Hamami was not merely hired as a commercial pilot. He was assigned to routes serving Israel and had reportedly flown into the country several times before the attempted hijacking without being identified as a potential security threat.

Only after the attack did investigators begin piecing together the history of warnings surrounding him. Reuters reported that Al-Hamami subsequently told investigators in the United Arab Emirates that he had planned the attack even before FlyDubai hired him, a revelation that has intensified scrutiny of how he was able to secure the position and repeatedly operate flights to Israel.

Authorities in the UAE are now examining the conduct of FlyDubai personnel involved in hiring Al-Hamami and whether proper procedures were followed before he was permitted to fly for the carrier.

Investigators in Abu Dhabi and Yerushalayim are also reportedly examining whether Al-Hamami’s radicalization may have begun earlier, including during a period in which he lived in Australia. Authorities are seeking to reconstruct his activities and determine when warning signs first appeared and whether information existed that could have prevented him from gaining access to an Israel-bound cockpit.

The attempted attack has now expanded into a broader examination of the system governing foreign airline crews entering Israel. Unlike ordinary travelers, airline personnel operate under specialized aviation procedures, raising questions about which Israeli agency is ultimately responsible for ensuring that potentially dangerous crew members are identified before they reach the country.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev said over the weekend that the responsibility for intelligence screening and security vetting of foreign flight crews does not rest with the Transportation Ministry. She said those duties belong to Israel’s security authorities.

The Wall Street Journal, however, has reported that the failures were not confined to FlyDubai or Oman. Its reporting also pointed to shortcomings on the Israeli side, including within the mechanisms overseen by Israeli authorities and the Transportation Ministry for screening foreign airline crews entering the country.

The disclosure that more than 1,200 crew members from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel have entered since January is now adding urgency to that dispute. Among those personnel were citizens of countries that remain formally hostile to Israel, including Syria and Lebanon, as well as Oman, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

The central question facing investigators is no longer only how Al-Hamami was hired by FlyDubai, but how information about a pilot who had reportedly already been flagged for extremist concerns failed to follow him through the international aviation system — and how he was subsequently able to fly repeatedly into Israel before allegedly attempting to bring down a passenger aircraft bound for Tel Aviv.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli President Isaac Herzog will present Israel’s highest civilian award for heroism on Thursday to six Israelis whose actions helped avert catastrophe aboard the FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv after the co-pilot attacked the captain and the aircraft plunged thousands of feet.

The six recipients of the President’s Award for Civilian Heroism are Or Bardilov, Yaniv Hayun, Dr. Shota Musayev, Tali Manes, Zvika Manes and Assaf Rajuan. The awards will be presented at a ceremony at the President’s Residence in Yerushalayim.

The six played different roles during the dramatic events aboard FlyDubai Flight FZ1073, which was carrying more than 170 people when the co-pilot attacked Indian Captain Smit Machchhar inside the cockpit as the aircraft was en route to Israel.

Despite suffering serious wounds, Machchhar fought with the attacker and managed to open the cockpit door, a move that ultimately allowed passengers to reach the cockpit and intervene.

Tali Manes, who was near the cockpit with her young daughter, heard the sounds of a violent struggle coming from inside and was the first to raise the alarm, calling on other passengers to help.

Yaniv Hayun, Zvika Manes and Assaf Rajuan responded and rushed toward the cockpit, where they confronted the attacker and managed to overpower and restrain him while placing themselves in serious danger.

During the struggle, with the aircraft rapidly losing altitude, Hayun also grabbed the controls and pulled back on them in an effort to stabilize the plane. Hayun, a plumber with no formal aviation training, later said that his limited understanding of what to do came from watching the television program “Air Crash Investigation.”

The passengers ultimately restrained the attacker with materials available aboard the aircraft, including headphone cables, while others guarded him as efforts shifted toward saving the wounded captain and getting the plane safely onto the ground.

Tali Manes continued taking action even after the immediate threat had been brought under control. According to the President’s Residence, she called for qualified pilots who were traveling as passengers in the rear of the aircraft to come forward and assist in regaining control of the plane.

Dr. Shota Musayev, a dentist, turned his attention to Machchhar, who was suffering from severe wounds and substantial blood loss. Musayev treated the captain for an extended period, working to stop the bleeding, monitoring his condition and keeping him conscious until the aircraft could make its emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

The plane ultimately landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where the attacker was taken into custody. The captain was transported for emergency medical treatment.

In the days following the incident, the actions of the passengers and Machchhar drew widespread praise in Israel and abroad, with government leaders saying their intervention had prevented what could have become one of the deadliest aviation terror attacks in years.

Last week, Herzog personally contacted four of the passengers to tell them that he intended to recommend them to the advisory committee responsible for the civilian heroism award. As additional testimony about the incident emerged, the full extent of Tali Manes’ role became clearer, and Herzog subsequently spoke with her as well.

“Tali, the more we learn about what happened during those dramatic moments, the clearer it becomes just how significant a role you played in saving the lives of the passengers on the plane,” Herzog told her. “You heard that something terrible was happening, immediately understood the magnitude of the danger, raised the alarm, called for help, and did not stop taking action even after the attacker had been neutralized.”

Herzog praised Manes for continuing to think and act during the emergency even after the assailant had been restrained.

“The resourcefulness, sense of responsibility, and composure you displayed in moments of life-threatening danger are civilian heroism in the fullest sense of the word. You are a hero, Tali, and I am proud of you and thank you on behalf of the State of Israel.”

Herzog has also singled out Machchhar for praise, saying the Indian captain’s determination despite his grave injuries made it possible for the passengers to intervene and ultimately helped save those aboard the aircraft.

The President’s Award for Civilian Heroism is Israel’s highest civilian decoration recognizing acts of heroism. Herzog established the award following the October 7 massacre to formally recognize civilians who knowingly put their own lives in genuine danger to save others.

Recipients are selected after their actions are examined and an advisory committee submits its recommendations to the president. Previous honorees have included civilians whose extraordinary actions saved lives during the October 7 attacks and other life-threatening incidents.

Thursday’s ceremony will now recognize the six Israelis whose actions, together with those of Machchhar and others aboard the flight, turned what appeared to be a rapidly unfolding disaster in the skies into an extraordinary rescue in which the passengers were brought safely to the ground.

{Matzav.com}

Sen. Ted Cruz launched an extraordinary broadside against Tucker Carlson, accusing the conservative commentator of defending Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany after Carlson repeatedly questioned whether Britain benefited from defeating Hitler in World War II during a contentious interview with former British Cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Cruz devoted a significant portion of Monday’s “Verdict with Ted Cruz” podcast to Carlson’s interview, joining co-host Ben Ferguson in dissecting Carlson’s statements about Hitler, Britain, World War II and Russia. Cruz argued that the comments were part of what he sees as a broader shift in Carlson’s politics and worldview.

“Come on, Tucker didn’t go full Nazi, did he?” Cruz said sarcastically before playing audio from Carlson’s interview. “I want you to give a listen to Tucker saying that he really wishes Hitler had won World War II.”

Carlson did not, however, explicitly state during the exchange that he wished Hitler had won the war. Rather, Carlson repeatedly pressed Rees-Mogg on whether Britain was ultimately better off because it fought and defeated Nazi Germany.

“We did the right thing,” Rees-Mogg said.

“Is it a better country than it was? To have defeated Hitler, yes. So the U.K. is a better country now? It’s a healthier country now?” Carlson responded.

“Otherwise, we’d be speaking German,” Rees-Mogg replied.

“Who cares?” Carlson said. “There are a lot of people in Britain who can’t speak English. So it would be nice to have at least a European language spoken in your country.”

Rees-Mogg immediately rejected that reasoning. “We want to speak English. Thanks so much.”

Ferguson said he was “truly shocked” by the exchange, while Cruz pointed to his own public response to Carlson’s remarks.

“Yes, Tucker. The U.K. is better off for winning World War II. America is better off for winning World War II. And the world would be much worse off if the Nazis had won World War II. This is not complicated.”

The Carlson-Rees-Mogg interview, released Friday, was originally framed largely around Britain’s approach to Russia and the war in Ukraine. But the discussion expanded into an extended debate about Britain’s role in World War II, including whether Hitler actually intended to wage war against Britain.

“Hitler did not want to go to war with the U.K.,” Carlson said, later stressing that Hitler had “repeatedly” said publicly and through diplomatic channels that he did not want war with Britain.

Rees-Mogg challenged Carlson’s reliance on Hitler’s stated intentions, pointing to the Nazi leader’s record of violating agreements and breaking promises as Germany expanded across Europe.

“You seem to be putting more trust in Hitler than I would,” he told Carlson, pointing to Hitler’s broken agreements and adding, “I’m very surprised you’re verging on defending Hitler.”

“Yeah, I guess I’m just a secret Nazi,” Carlson responded. “I’m actually not a secret Nazi.”

“I’m reassured,” Rees-Mogg dryly replied.

“And hardly a public Nazi,” Carlson added.

Cruz seized on that portion of the interview, describing Carlson as “blazingly naive and willfully naive” in his approach to dictators and authoritarian governments.

“We’re now less than a month away from Election Day, and Tucker Carlson decided, what do you want to do right before Election Day?” Cruz asked rhetorically.

Cruz then delivered his most blistering attack of the podcast, tying the World War II controversy to his longstanding disputes with Carlson over President Trump, Israel, antisemitism and foreign policy.

“I know, become a full-on Nazi. Embrace Adolf Hitler, defend the Nazis, argue America should have been standing with the Nazis. You know, poor Adolf was just misunderstood. We’re going to come with the receipts of even for Tucker, long after he’s gone down the road of hating Donald Trump, long after he’s gone down the road of hating Israel and Jews, long after he’s gone down the road of hating Christian Zionists, and becoming a full-on jihadist, long after he has embraced Abdul El-Sayed, Tucker decided, you know, I don’t have enough Nazi love on my show, and this past week he sought to correct that. You can hear and judge for yourself.”

The episode marked another escalation in an increasingly bitter feud between two highly influential figures on the American right. Cruz has become one of Carlson’s most vocal conservative critics, particularly over Carlson’s treatment of Israel, Jews and figures accused of promoting antisemitism.

The dispute intensified after Carlson interviewed Nick Fuentes last year. Cruz subsequently called Carlson “the single-most dangerous demagogue in this country” and warned about what he sees as the increasing acceptance of antisemitism within portions of the political right.

Cruz’s latest criticism was not limited to Carlson’s discussion of Hitler. He also targeted Carlson over another exchange with Rees-Mogg concerning the relative economic strength of Russia and Britain.

Carlson asserted that Russia has a “much larger economy” than Britain, pointing to the country’s natural resources, manufacturing capacity and size.

Rees-Mogg challenged him, noting that Russia’s nominal gross domestic product is smaller than that of the United Kingdom despite Russia possessing a substantially larger population and enormous natural resources. Carlson countered that GDP was not the only measure of a country’s economic strength and pointed instead to Russia’s underlying resources and industrial capacity.

“Tucker has an ideological mission,” Cruz charged. “It is a mission to tear down America, to tear down free enterprise, to tear down the Constitution.”

Cruz went further, accusing Carlson’s rhetoric of working to “build up the Nazis” as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two conservatives have also diverged sharply over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Carlson has repeatedly questioned Washington’s support for Kyiv and argued that U.S. leaders exaggerate the threat posed by Moscow, while Cruz has taken a far more hawkish approach toward Russia.

Another portion of Carlson’s interview focused on Britain’s treatment during World War II of Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists, who was detained by the British government along with hundreds of other suspected fascist sympathizers under wartime emergency regulations.

Cruz interpreted Carlson’s criticism of those actions as another example of the same pattern he saw throughout the interview.

“Tucker is all in on defending the Nazis against the West.”

The uproar over Carlson’s interview has extended beyond Cruz. Rees-Mogg subsequently said he could not understand Carlson’s increasingly extreme positions and suggested that the incentives of online media and the pursuit of audience engagement could be contributing to Carlson’s provocative rhetoric.

Poland’s government has also entered the controversy after Carlson discussed Hitler’s grievances against Poland and questioned the circumstances that led Britain to declare war on Germany following the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939. Bogdan Klich, Poland’s top diplomat in Washington, demanded that Carlson retract his remarks and apologize, accusing him of becoming “an apologist for Adolf Hitler.”

Cruz ended his discussion by describing Carlson’s rhetoric as “profoundly dangerous” and telling listeners that they did not need to rely on his characterization of Carlson’s views because the underlying interview was available for them to hear themselves.

“You don’t have to take my word for it,” Cruz said, “because you can listen in his own words as we played today.”

{Matzav.com}

Poland’s top diplomat in Washington has demanded that Tucker Carlson publicly retract and apologize for his remarks about Nazi Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland, accusing the prominent commentator of advancing a false version of history and becoming “an apologist for Adolf Hitler.”

Bogdan Klich, chargé d’affaires at the Polish Embassy in Washington, issued the extraordinary rebuke after Carlson questioned Britain’s decision to enter World War II and argued during an interview with former British Cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg that Adolf Hitler had legitimate grievances against Poland over German territory lost following World War I.

Klich said Carlson’s portrayal of the events leading to World War II was “false and deeply troubling,” describing his treatment of Hitler’s invasion as a “colossal insult” to the millions of victims of Nazism, including American servicemen killed or wounded in the fight to liberate Europe.

“Nazi propaganda cannot be rehabilitated under the guise of free speech,” Klich wrote, demanding an immediate public retraction and apology.

The clash erupted following Carlson’s lengthy conversation with Rees-Mogg, during which Carlson challenged the conventional understanding of Britain’s entry into World War II and questioned whether the United Kingdom ultimately benefited from fighting Nazi Germany.

Carlson argued that Germany had lost territory populated by Germans to Poland following World War I and disputed the characterization of Hitler’s Sept. 1, 1939, invasion as an unprovoked act of aggression. Rees-Mogg repeatedly pushed back, at one point accusing Carlson of “verging on defending Hitler.”

Carlson also questioned why Britain had declared war on Germany when Hitler had publicly claimed that he did not intend to attack Britain. Britain and France declared war on Germany on Sept. 3, 1939, two days after German forces invaded Poland.

Polish officials responded that Hitler’s assurances about his territorial ambitions cannot be separated from his repeated pattern of making commitments and subsequently violating them.

At Munich in September 1938, Britain and France agreed to Germany’s annexation of the predominantly German-speaking Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia after Hitler pledged that the territorial settlement would satisfy Germany’s demands and that future disputes would be handled peacefully.

Within six months, Hitler violated that understanding. German forces entered the Czech lands in March 1939, dismantling what remained of Czechoslovakia and placing Bohemia and Moravia under German occupation.

Germany had similarly signed a nonaggression pact with Poland in 1934, ostensibly committing the two countries to resolve disputes without military force. Hitler renounced the agreement in April 1939, and Germany invaded Poland just over four months later.

The invasion was also preceded by the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union. Under a secret protocol attached to the agreement, the two totalitarian powers divided Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.

Germany attacked Poland from the west on Sept. 1, while Soviet forces invaded from the east on Sept. 17. Poland was subsequently partitioned between the two regimes.

While Germany’s public demands before the war centered heavily on the Free City of Danzig and transportation access across the Polish Corridor, diplomatic records from the period indicate that Hitler’s demands expanded as the crisis intensified.

A U.S. diplomatic report produced shortly before the invasion described Hitler as demanding Danzig, the Corridor and Polish provinces including Pomerania and Silesia while threatening to “crush Poland.”

Klich said Carlson’s presentation ignored the broader historical record of Nazi Germany’s plans for Poland and Europe. He argued that the Sept. 1 invasion was a deliberately planned war of aggression intended to destroy the Polish state and ultimately facilitate further German conquest.

Poland suffered catastrophic losses under Nazi occupation. Approximately six million Polish citizens were killed during World War II, roughly half of them Jews murdered as part of the Holocaust. Poland was also the site of Nazi extermination camps where millions of Jews from across Europe were murdered.

Rees-Mogg continued challenging Carlson throughout their exchange, rejecting Carlson’s contention that Britain’s decision to confront Nazi Germany had been a mistake.

Following the interview, Rees-Mogg suggested that Carlson’s increasingly provocative positions could be influenced in part by the incentives of the online media environment and the audiences generated by controversial material.

The controversy also drew a sharp response from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who has become one of Carlson’s most outspoken Republican critics.

“Yes, Tucker, the UK is better off for winning WWII,” Cruz wrote. “America is better off for winning World War II. And the world would be much worse off if the Nazis had won WWII. This is not complicated.”

Cruz has previously called Carlson “the single-most dangerous demagogue in this country” while warning about the growth of antisemitism on the political right.

The Texas senator has been particularly critical of Carlson’s decision to conduct a friendly interview with Nick Fuentes, who has openly expressed antisemitic views and praised Hitler. Cruz has accused Carlson and others in his orbit of attempting to move parts of the conservative movement toward hostility to Israel and greater tolerance of antisemitism.

Carlson, meanwhile, has become increasingly outspoken in his opposition to U.S. support for Israel and has repeatedly clashed with prominent Republicans and pro-Israel conservatives over the issue. His critics have accused him of amplifying antisemitic figures and conspiracy theories, accusations Carlson and his supporters have pushed back against.

In February, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee challenged Carlson directly over several of his claims during a contentious interview between the two men.

For Polish officials, however, the latest confrontation is centered squarely on World War II and what they view as an attempt to rewrite the circumstances surrounding the Nazi invasion that devastated their country.

“History must not be distorted,” Klich wrote. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

{Matzav.com}

[Video below.] United Torah Judaism chairman MK Yaakov Asher issued a blistering condemnation Monday of a campaign video released by Sharren Haskel, warning that if a chareidi person is harmed as a result of what he called the video’s incitement, responsibility will rest with Haskel.

The controversial video, published by Haskel, chairwoman of the newly established Israel First party, depicts a chareidi bochur approaching a wounded IDF soldier and taking money from him. The video was posted under the Hebrew caption “Kahal Shavui,” meaning a “captive audience.”

WATCH:

Asher accused Haskel and those responsible for the video of using imagery and messaging that demonizes the chareidi community.

“An antisemitic incitement video that mainly testifies about its creators — haters of people and haters of religion,” Asher said. “This is the permitting of chareidi blood in a style remembered from dark periods in history.”

The UTJ chairman then issued an even sharper warning about what he said could be the consequences of such rhetoric.

“If a chareidi is harmed as a result of this incitement, the blood is on Sharren Haskel’s hands,” Asher said.

UTJ MK Meir Porush also condemned the video, characterizing it as antisemitic election propaganda and noting Haskel’s recent service as deputy foreign minister.

“What complaints can we have against the Green Party in Britain when a former deputy foreign minister here in Israel publishes antisemitic election propaganda?” Porush wrote.

Haskel served until recently as deputy foreign minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. She subsequently left Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope faction and established a new political party, Israel First, as she prepared for the upcoming elections.

Her new political venture has received the backing of Jonathan Pollard, who served 30 years in an American prison after being convicted of spying for Israel. Pollard joined Haskel’s party in August, appearing with her near the Kosel to announce his support.

“At October 7, I saw that the country was abandoned and betrayed. With you, I hope there will be a new government dedicated to protecting the land and the people of Israel,” Pollard said at the time.

Pollard also praised Haskel for the efforts she made on his behalf before his release from the restrictions that remained following his imprisonment.

“You fought for me without boasting about it,” Pollard told her.

The dispute over Haskel’s video comes amid an increasingly charged election campaign in which the military draft and the status of chareidi yeshiva bochurim have emerged as major political flashpoints, with chareidi lawmakers accusing political rivals of exploiting hostility toward their community for electoral gain.

A seemingly ordinary photograph of an Israeli boy posing with Flydubai Captain Smit Machchhar has taken on extraordinary significance after the veteran pilot was critically wounded while battling to save Flight FZ1073 from an attempted takeover.

The photograph was shared by Mor Levy Aharoni, a Dubai-based real estate attorney, who said her son Ariel had insisted on taking a picture with Machchhar approximately one month before the terrifying incident aboard the Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

At the time, it was simply a photograph with a pilot. After what happened aboard FZ1073, Aharoni said she sees the picture very differently.

“Apparently he felt that he was taking a picture with a hero, and we didn’t even know it. If not for this hero, only God knows where we would be today,” she wrote.

Aharoni said the remarkable coincidence generated an emotional response online, as people reacted to the image of the young Israeli standing beside the man who, just weeks later, would play a critical role in preventing a potentially catastrophic attack involving a plane filled with Israeli passengers.

Machchhar was critically wounded during the attack inside the cockpit when the Omani co-pilot allegedly assaulted him and attempted to seize control of the Boeing 737.

During the struggle, the aircraft plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before control was restored, as passengers and crew members fought to restrain the alleged attacker.

Speaking from his hospital bed with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Machchhar later described how, despite his serious wounds, he understood that he had to act immediately.

The captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and other crew members to intervene and overpower the attacker. Two additional pilots who happened to be traveling aboard the flight subsequently helped stabilize the aircraft and safely divert it to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

Machchhar brought extensive experience to the cockpit that day. He has accumulated approximately 9,750 flight hours aboard Boeing 737 aircraft and joined Flydubai as a captain in 2022 following many years with Indian carrier SpiceJet.

For Aharoni and her son, however, the story now has an intensely personal dimension: a photograph taken on an ordinary day in Dubai, weeks before anyone knew the captain’s name, captured Ariel smiling alongside the pilot who would soon be hailed for helping save the lives of those aboard Flight FZ1073.

{Matzav.com}