Jews and Israelis, or passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith, will not be able to fly Delta Air Lines flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under Delta’s new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines.
Although Delta announced in January that the Saudi airline would join its SkyTeam network next year, the implications of the deal only came to light recently, according to people who have scrutinized the details.
Saudi Arabia, which is governed by strict Islamic law, requires citizens of almost every country to obtain a visa. People who wish to enter the country must have a sponsor; women, who must be dressed according to Saudi standards of modesty, must be met at the Saudi airport by a man who will act as a chaperone.
Saudi Arabia bans anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport from entering the country, even in transit. Many Jews believe the kingdom has also withheld visas from travelers with Jewish-sounding names.
Religious items such as Bibles that are not related to Islam may be confiscated at the airport.
Colby M. May, senior counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal group founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, said his office is trying to determine if the agreement runs afoul of U.S. law.
“The very idea that there is a common carrier airline service that would deny an American citizen in America access to their services because they are Jewish or have religious items such as a yarmulke, a cross or a priestly collar, is deeply disturbing,” May said.
May said he is “trying to get answers” from Delta.
“They have not responded in a way that answers the question,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll do so.”
In a statement to Religion News Service on Thursday, Delta said it “does not discriminate, nor do we condone discrimination against any protected class of passenger in regards to age, race, nationality, religion, or gender.”
The airline, which did not deny the new policy, insisted that it has no control over who may fly to Saudi Arabia.
“Delta must also comply with all applicable laws in every country it serves,” adding that passengers are responsible for obtaining the necessary travel documents required for entry.
“If a passenger travels without proper documents, the passenger may be denied entry into that country and our airline may be fined,” the statement said.
The Jan. 10 agreement allows Saudi Arabian Airlines to become a member of SkyTeam in 2012 after “fulfilling all membership requirements,” according to a SkyTeam statement. The Saudi airline is SkyTeam’s first member from the Middle East.
The policy has deeply angered U.S. Jewish groups, especially since Delta is an American carrier.
“Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, should be strongly condemned for its despicable discrimination against Jews,” said Kenneth Bandler, a spokesman for the New York-based American Jewish Committee.
“For an American company, our nation’s values should trump narrow business interests. Delta should be the first to reject Saudi airlines as a SkyTeam member.”
Dan Diker, secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, said he hoped “Delta will not be complicit with what appears to be a demonstrably anti-Semitic and racist policy by Saudi Arabian Airlines.”
(Source: USA Today)
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20 Responses
It’s starting to rain.
What did you say? …Oh obama is president after all. ‘Take it or leave it!’
My husband & I fly quite frequently. I just read this to him & we are agreed: WE WILL NOT FLY DELTA AGAIN. Anywhere.
I hope Delta executives get many negative responses. And I hope it’s picked up by Glenn Beck & other religious media stars.
Why should anyone care, who wants to travel to Saudi Arabia
I just went on delta.com & sent the following comment:
“HOW DARE YOU partner with virulent anti-Semites and now you’ll refuse to allow Jews or Israelis to fly on your flights to Saudi Arabia?
As a Jew I have flown all over the world, on business & for pleasure, as has my husband. WE WILL NEVER FLY DELTA AGAIN. What’s more I will do everything in my power to get the word out to my business colleagues, families & friends.
Twitter & FB spread the word much faster than your planes get off the ground.”
The issue isn’t the plane’s destination. It’s the blatant racial & religious discrimination. Isn’t this illegal IN THIS COUNTRY???
In case you can’t tell, I’m livid. This is my next crusade.
Where are all the liberal Jews now?????maybe they can wake up and smell what’s cooking in the middle east. Here an idea let’s have a flitolla mission to saudi arabia.
This worries me very much.However, I am not suprised that Delta is involved with this. Just another way how they are a horrible airline.
Who is this a problem for?
Why should anyone be surprised by this? It’s all part of the Muslim plan to create a caliphate over the world and govern us all with Sharia law.
I have now adopted a “NO DELTA AIRLINES” policy and I urge others to join me.
I will no longer vacation in Saudi Arabia. Those anti semites.
Rubashkin, Pollard, Bris Milah, Shechitah,. . . My dear friends, brothers . . . Society was not fooled . . . They still look at us as Jews. The secular-Jewish philosophy has not worked. The Yid can only have one main mailing address; either olam ha’zeh or olam ha’ba. One must be subordinate. Bottom line is that if we do express the havdalah between us and them, they will express it for us.
This ban is only for flights to saudi arabia. However delta still flies to Israel where there is no Jew ban on those flights. THEREFORE, We must UNITE and ban that airline so they go out of business.
I mean if we DON’T express the havdallah between us and them, they will ultimately do it for us HaShem Yirachaim.
Well no jew or israeli should ever fly with delta not “because we’re discriminating against delta” just because we dont fly on anti semitic airlines
Me-thinks this was written by US Airways, or United or some competitor.
The entire article makes ZERO sense. And Israelis have been prohibited for YEARS to access certain middle-eastern arab countries.
Why is this all of a sudden on Delta?
Delta is one of 3 US carriers that fly non-stop to Tel Aviv. I never fly them because of some horrible experiences I have had with their “service.”
Just as they do not make Israeli policy for entry requirements, so they must abide by Saudi law for entry in their country.
Saudi Arabia is a true “Evil Empire”.
They export extremist Wahabism to other countries, where even in the US the schools and camps they sponsor teach charming phrases such as “itbah al Yahud” (“kill the Jew”) and intolerance to any other religion.
They are the most racist country in the entire world – far beyond what South Africa was in its worst days of apartheid. For decades they prohibited Jews entry to their country (a relative in the oil industry told me about this prohibition decades before Rep. Anthony Weiner publicized it), and when this black-and-white prohibition on the official government website was publicized in 2004, they explained it away as a “mistake”.
As the above article states, they refuse to recognize Israel, and their Israel / Jew hatred is so extreme that they won’t even allow travelers who have an Israeli stamp on their passport to transit their country.
They regularly harm America with their monopolistic OPEC cartel, including a refusal to a direct appeal from President Bush to increase production as the American economy was suffering serious harm from high oil prices.
They refused to cooperate with the U.S. investigation into the Khobar Towers bombing, which killed several American servicemen.
Their mistreatment of women is well known – women are perhaps a small step above slaves in their country.
And yet, we consider them an ally, and take seriously their “peace plan in the desk drawer” that supposedly offers a fair solution to the Israeli – Arab impasse.
Has the world gone insane?
THIS is American apartheid!! But it dont matter because decay and corruption is filling the world again.
YWN has stooped down to becoming the Jewish ENQUIRER with such false attention grabbing headlines.