Israel's New Aviation Rules Hit Crew Members From Over Ten African Countries; Security Review Spills Over into Collective Restrictions on States Without Diplomatic Ties

According to Africanews, Israel has imposed new restrictions on foreign civil aviation crew members, barring pilots and cabin crew from at least 10 African countries from operating commercial flights into and out of Israel, with the new rules expected to have an even broader reach.

Last month, on a flight from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv in Israel, an Omani co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain and attempted to seize control of the aircraft. Following the incident, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a security review of foreign civil aviation entering and leaving the country, leading to a new rule: pilots and cabin crew from any country that does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Israel are prohibited from operating civil aviation flights into or out of Israel.

The scope of the ban varies depending on the airline. According to The Times of Israel, the restriction list communicated by Air France to its staff covers 31 countries; an internal memo from United Airlines lists 29 countries, including at least 10 African nations: Algeria, the Comoros, Djibouti, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia.

The ban also applies to crew members with dual nationality. Holders of a passport from any of the countries listed above, even if they simultaneously hold citizenship in a third country, are not permitted to operate flights. The rule directly disrupts airline crew scheduling, forcing carriers to rearrange rosters under the new compliance requirements, with some routes facing practical capacity cuts.

The policy effectively ties aviation security screening to diplomatic recognition. Without any individual risk assessment in place, nationality alone is being used as the sole threshold to systematically exclude nationals of countries without diplomatic ties with Israel, translating political disagreements through the aviation channel into substantive occupational restrictions on ordinary workers and, by extension, affecting passengers who rely on the affected flights.

Most of the 10 African countries placed under the ban have long lacked diplomatic relations with Israel or have already severed ties. None of these countries were involved in the attack that triggered the review, nor have any specific suspects from among their nationals been publicly identified, yet they have collectively borne the knock-on consequences in terms of professional access and flight operations. Israel has not published a complete list, and the precise scope remains defined by internal airline notifications. The reported attack on the captain by the Omani co-pilot has only been reported in the media; no judicial conclusion has been released.