Friday, June 24, 2011

Flying Jews Free

Too Good To Be True?  Saudi Arabian Airlines announces they will fly Jews for free!  Anywhere in Saudi Arabia they wish to go!  Abq Jew rejoices - at last, that vacation trip he's been dreaming of (that is, of which he has been dreaming.  One should not end a sentence with a preposition.  It's something up with which we speakers of correct English correctly should not have to put.).

But anyway - it turns out that Abq Jew didn't hear this right.  Turns out that Saudi Arabian Airlines, as part of an unadvertised special, does not announce, yet routinely practices, that their flights to the Kingdom are Jew-free, which is to say, free of Jews, or, in other words, No Jews Allowed.

And, it turns out, our own Delta Air Lines is a partner with Saudi Arabian Airlines.  This has Doug Chandler of The Jewish Week somewhat upset.  Chandler reports:
A partnership between Delta Air Lines and Saudi Arabian Airlines will lead to what critics are calling “Jew-free flights,” with Delta barring passengers who openly identify themselves as Jews or have passports stamped with an Israeli entrance or exit visa.
Delta claims they don’t discriminate or condone discrimination against anyone on the basis of race, nationality, religion or gender. But, Delta points out, international airlines “are required [by the country's government] to comply with all applicable laws governing entry into every country” they serve. So these matters are beyond Delta’s control.

Abq Jew wonders: Is this behavior tolerated in any other country, against any other religion?  Does Switzerland not admit Muslims?  Does Turkey not admit Christians?  Does the UK not admit Hindus?  Just asking.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I appreciate the mention, Marc. You and your readers may be interested in an update on that story: http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national/some_delta_partnership_saudis_raises_ethical_questions