Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Wednesday, 8 December 2021
Sunday, 5 December 2021
STAY AT HOME DO NOT FLY
BIAS IN THE SKIES: Frum Couple Kicked Off Flight for Refusing to Place Tallis Bag on Floor
A frum couple has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines after they were kicked off a flight for standing up for their Jewish beliefs and refusing to place a tallis bag on the floor.
Roberto and Elana Birman were returning to New York from Florida in August when the incident occurred.
When Roberto explained that he couldn’t because it was a religious item, the flight attendant allegedly told them, “it doesn’t matter.”According to the couple, they had placed the tallis bag in the overhead bin when a flight attendant took it out, handed it to them, and demanded they place it on the floor beneath their seats to clear up overhead bin space.
The couple adds that the flight attendant yelled and pointed her finger at them during the exchange.
“I couldn’t believe this was happening to me in America,” Roberto, who immigrated to the US from Argentina in 1985, told the NY Post. “We use these items every single day to pray.”
“Nobody said a word. Nobody defended us. It was embarrassing,” Elana said.
The couple was subsequently escorted off the plane and forced to miss their flight. They are now suing American Airlines for unspecified damages.
“My clients were ejected from the flight based on the prejudices and complete lack of sensitivity of American Airlines employees for reasons wholly unrelated to security,” their lawyer, Brad Gerstman, said. “The flight attendant and pilot’s conduct was as offensive as it was illogical.”
American Airlines said it is reviewing the lawsuit.
Saturday, 4 December 2021
Monday, 29 November 2021
DO NOT FLY
Frum Jews From S. Africa Forced To Be Mechallel Shabbos, Board Plane
The South Africans, two of whom had traveled to Israel to be menachem avel the family of terror victim Eli Kay, h’yd, had left South Africa before the new travel restrictions due to the Omicron variant had been announced and were not even aware of them when they arrived in the country,
When they arrived at Ben-Gurion after a stopover in Dubai, they were taken to a side room by airport officials and told that they were banned from entering the country and they will have to return to Dubai. When they protested that they couldn’t fly on Shabbos, the officials told them that they would arrest them if they didn’t board the plane.
Elana Smith, a friend of Eli’s mother, Devora Kay, told Maariv: “They treated us like criminals. We asked questions and they yelled at us to be quiet and not ask questions. I told them that I can’t be mechallel Shabbos and they told me that they’ll arrest me if I don’t board the plane. I hadn’t eaten in over 24 hours and I was mechallel Shabbos for the first time in my life.”
Dubai also denied the South Africans entry into the country and they were forced to fly back to South Africa on Shabbos.