
Passengers sue United for alleged Jew-hatred on flight to Israel
A group of 57 passengers recently sued United Airlines for alleged antisemitic discrimination, claiming the airline turned a plane around mid-flight to Tel Aviv from Newark, N.J., because many of the passengers were Jewish, the New York Post reported.
Article content
Article content
The plane was turned around roughly three hours into a flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to Ben-Gurion International Airport on April 22, 2023, when a passenger sat in a flight attendant's seat while waiting for the restroom. The crew member then told the pilot there was a 'security threat,' according to the suit filed with the Manhattan Supreme Court.
Article content
Article content
The lawsuit alleges that the flight crew 'blamed all the rest of the passengers,' many of whom were 'visibly Jewish,' and who were traveling home for Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut. The 'ill-trained and/or unvetted crew' then allegedly acted with 'prejudice,' according to the suit, the Post reported.
Article content
Article content
Passengers state they did not receive assistance in rebooking new flights upon their return to Newark, with one passenger alleging that a flight attendant told them to 'go ask your own kind' for help, per the lawsuit.
Article content
The suit added that United 'acted willfully, wantonly and with reckless disregard for the plaintiffs' rights, targeting visibly Jewish passengers as a group, denying them the continuation of their journey and subjecting them to humiliation and prejudice solely based on their religion and ethnicity.'
Article content
United said the suit was 'meritless.'
Article content
'Our crew put safety first and exhibited professionalism in managing this matter, and we will vigorously defend against these false allegations,' the airline said in a statement, according to the Post.
Article content
United is also the subject of a criminal complaint after one of its pilots allegedly forced open an airplane bathroom door while an Orthodox Jewish man was inside, despite having been notified that the man had a medical condition.
Article content
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
IAEA chief says information obtained by Iran ‘seem to refer' to Israeli nuclear research site
VIENNA (AP) — The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that the information Iran claimed it seized regarding Israel's nuclear program 'seems to refer' to the country's Soreq Nuclear Research Center, the first acknowledgment outside of Tehran of the theft. The office of Israel's prime minister had no immediate response on the remarks by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, who spoke during a news conference in Vienna. The alleged theft comes at a time of renewed tensions over Iran's nuclear program, which enriches uranium a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels and looks poised to reject a U.S. proposal over a possible deal on its atomic program. 'We have seen some reports in the press. We haven't had any official communication about this,' Grossi told reporters. 'In any case, this seems to refer to Soreq, which is a research facility which we inspect by the way. We don't inspect other strategic parts of the program, but this part of the program we do inspect.' He did not elaborate on where he received his information, though the IAEA maintains a confidential reporting system for nations to report security incidents involving their nuclear programs. Soreq, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Tel Aviv, is a national laboratory for nuclear science established in Israel in 1958, engaged in nuclear science, radiation safety and applied physics. The IAEA has so-called 'item-specific safeguards agreements' with Israel, Pakistan and India, all countries that are not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Under Israel's agreement, the IAEA monitors Soreq but has no access to Israel's nuclear facility at Dimona, believed to provide the fuel for Israel's undeclared nuclear weapons program. Over the weekend Iranian state television and later the country's intelligence minister claimed without offering evidence that Tehran seized an 'important treasury' of information regarding Israel's nuclear program. Israel, whose undeclared atomic weapons program makes it the only country in the Mideast with nuclear bombs, has not acknowledged any such Iranian operation targeting it — though there have been arrests of Israelis allegedly spying for Tehran amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib claimed thousands of pages of documents had been obtained which would be made public soon. Among them were documents related to the U.S., Europe and other countries which, he claimed, had been obtained through 'infiltration' and 'access to the sources.' He did not elaborate on the methods used. However, Khatib, a Shiite cleric, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 over directing 'cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran's political goals.' For Iran, the claim may be designed to show the public that the theocracy was able to respond to a 2018 Israeli operation that spirited out what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a 'half ton' of documents related to Iran's program. That Israeli announcement came just before President Donald Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which greatly limited its program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. This week, Western nations are expect to go before the IAEA's Board of Governors with a proposal to find Iran in noncompliance with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. It could be the first time in decades — and likely would kick the issue to the U.N. Security Council. That could see one of the Western countries involved in the 2015 nuclear deal invoke the so-called 'snapback' of U.N. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The authority to restore those sanctions by the complaint of any member of the original 2015 nuclear deal expires in October — putting the West on a clock to exert pressure on Tehran over its program before losing that power. ___ Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape:


National Post
4 hours ago
- National Post
Boat carrying Greta Thunberg to Gaza intercepted by Israeli Navy
Article content Half of the passengers are French. On Monday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed that Paris had warned citizens of the risks involved in joining the protest flotilla and said that the consulate had requested Israel grant consular protection to the detainees. Article content Meanwhile, Madrid summoned the Israeli chargé d'affaires to protest the seizure. One Spanish national was listed as a passenger. Article content The other nationalities represented were one each from Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey. Article content The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called the interception 'a blatant act of international piracy and state terrorism.' Iran also condemned the intervention as 'a form of piracy,' since it happened in international waters. Article content Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to show the activist group a 43-minute video of atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 massacre, which sparked the war in Gaza. Article content 'It's appropriate that Greta the antisemite and her Hamas-supporting friends see exactly who the terror group Hamas is, what atrocious acts they carried out against women, the elderly and children, and who Israel is fighting to defend against,' said Katz. Article content Article content He ordered the video to be screened for the group upon their arrival at the Port of Ashdod, where their boat was towed after Israeli troops boarded the vessel. Article content The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was attempting to deliver a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to the Gaza population. Article content 'While Greta and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity—and which included less than a single truckload of aid—more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks. In addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza,' said the Foreign Ministry. Article content 'There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip—they do not involve Instagram selfies. The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels,' the ministry added. Article content Article content In an earlier post, the ministry emphasized that Israel's blockade of Gaza is legal under international law, and that the Gaza maritime zone is an active conflict area, which Hamas terrorists have previously exploited for attacks, including the Oct. 7 massacre. Article content 'Unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts. We call on all actors to act responsibly and to channel humanitarian aid through legitimate, coordinated mechanisms, not through provocation,' the ministry stated. Article content Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's Palestinian population. Article content

CBC
14 hours ago
- CBC
Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg, ministry says
Social Sharing Israeli forces have taken command of a charity vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, and the boat with its crew of 12 including activist Greta Thunberg is now heading to a port in Israel, officials said on Sunday. The British-flagged yacht Madleen, which is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was aiming to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there. However, the boat was boarded during the night before it could reach shore, the FFC said on its Telegram account. The Israeli Foreign Ministry later confirmed that it was under Israeli control. "The 'selfie yacht' of the 'celebrities' is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries," the ministry wrote on X. All passengers were safe and unharmed, the ministry later added. "They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over." Among the 12-strong crew are Swedish climate campaigner Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. "The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2 a.m.," Hassan posted on X. A photograph showed the crew seated on the boat, all wearing life jackets, with their hands in the air. The yacht is carrying a small shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula. The Foreign Ministry said it would be taken to Gaza. "The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels," it wrote. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas. Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war, which began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally. Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's military campaign. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's more than two million residents are facing famine. The Israeli government says the blockade is essential to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas. The UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has supported the FFC operation and on Sunday urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade.