'Netanyahu connecting flydubai incident to Iran for political reasons', report says

A source close to the UAE government has accused the Israeli government of exploiting the flydubai incident for political purposes and delaying the restoration of flydubai service, according to Ynet.

An Arkia aircraft brought Israeli passengers stranded in Dubai on Saturday, with an Israir plane expected to follow, while flydubai announced it was suspending all flights to Israel until further notice.

One of the outstanding issues was an Emirati demand that a cargo aircraft accompany the passenger flight to transport passengers’ luggage, Ynet reported.

“They are talking about ‘rescue flights’ as though there is a war in the country. There is no war,” the source told ynet.

He also claimed Emirati officials believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to connect the attack to Iran for political reasons ahead of Israel’s election.

“The feeling in the Emirates is that everything is being done to drag this out because it serves Israel politically,” he said, comparing Israel’s conduct to “an arsonist who runs to start the fire and then runs to put it out.”

Netanyahu had claimed that "a disaster on the scale of September 11" was prevented and the attacker "underwent Islamist radicalisation and came to crash the plane with its passengers on board".

“The one stopping the flights is Israel,” the source said. “If passengers can board an Arkia flight, why not Flydubai?” He argued that Israeli use of the term “rescue flights” created the impression that the UAE was facing a war or emergency. “Rescue from what? From whom? From where?”

According to the source, Etihad is operating eight flights to Abu Dhabi beginning Sunday under a stricter security protocol, and the same procedures could be applied to Flydubai. He said Emirati authorities were conducting their own investigation into the Omani co-pilot suspected of trying to crash Wednesday’s flight and were willing to tighten screening procedures for aircrews.

The source acknowledged that “clearly there was a failure,” but accused Israel of dragging out the crisis despite Emirati cooperation. “We are going crazy over Israel’s behaviour. It does not seem that the Israeli government understands what it is doing,” he said, according to Ynet.