New Delhi:
Attacks on Israel are not new and the country will strengthen security measures, Israely Ambassador Reuven Azar said when asked about the flydubai plane attack. In this instance, the need of the hour is to strengthen communication, he added.
“What terrorists are trying to do is to always find cracks in the system and our job is to narrow those gaps,” he said in an exclusive interview with NDTV on the third anniversary of the October 7 attack.
The flydubai attack of Wednesay last week shocked the world, with an Omani co-pilot trying to crash the flight from Tel Aviv To Dubai that was carring 170 passengers and crew. When the Indian pilot, Captain Smit Machchhar, tried to stop him, the co-pilot attacked him a ‘crash axe’ inside the cockpit, injuring him seriously.
“We have no alternative but to work together, as much as governments… Because apparently this information was already there in the hands of the Omani government. So the fact that they didn’t share it, or if they did share it, who did get the information – all these things have to be investigated so we can draw the lessons, maybe increase the cooperation,” he added.
Along with these, there is also a need to adapt the protocols so “even if other countries do not cooperate with us, our agencies will be diligent enough to vet those who are participating in aviation activities in a way that will secure us in a much better way,” he added.
Asked how the communication can progress in absence of diplomatic relations between Israel and Oman, which is investigating the matter, Azar said there are other channels of communication.
“We have intelligence channels almost with all the countries in the region, and that includes Oman. So when there is a will, there is a way,” he said.
And even where the will is not there, it is the responsibility of the Israeli government and its security agencies to do their job, he said.
Israel, he said, is looking into all of that, because this was not just an attempt to kill Israelis, he said. “This was an attack on the heart of the Abraham Accords,” he added, refering to the US-brokered agreements signed in 2020 that established formal diplomatic, economic, and security ties between Israel and several Arab nations.
“As much as we are successful in coalescing with countries in the region to create a different future free of extremism, the extremists will try to double down their efforts to derail us. So we have to be prepared for that. You cannot be complacent,” he added.
