According to the report, Lufthansa apologizes to all visible Jewish passengers banned from flying
On Tuesday, Lufthansa issued an apology after Orthodox Jews complained that all visible Jewish passengers were thrown off the plane because a group did not follow the masking rules of the German airline.
In a video from the incident, a Lufthansa supervisor could be heard saying “everyone has to pay for a couple” and that “it is Jews who come from JFK. Jewish people who were messed up, who created the problems. “
In a statement on Tuesday, Lufthansa said that only the “incompatible guests” should have been prevented from boarding and not the whole group. “Lufthansa apologizes for the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude passengers from flight LH 1[ads1]334 on May 4. Lufthansa strongly apologizes,” it said.
“What happened is not in accordance with Lufthansa’s guidelines or values. We have no tolerance for racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination of any kind, the statement said.
However, some officials did not accept the airline’s apology as enough.
In response to the statement, Yad Vashem director Dani Dayan wrote on Twitter: “Do you regret the ‘circumstances surrounding the decision?’ Do you not regret the decision itself? And employee behavior? And their attitude and statements? This is not an excuse. We expect you to do better. Not too late. “
Now @Instagram and @YouTube has removed our video showing a Lufthansa supervisor blaming problems # The Jews due to “hate speech”.
Do not be quiet #antisemittisme!
Share this story and video before removing it anywhere! Https: //t.co/2VONoXtRzN@ElonMusk @TeamYouTube pic.twitter.com/xVgS21AwOa
– DanceDeals (@DansDeals) May 9, 2022
The Anti-Defamation League blew up Lufthansa’s statement and asked the airline to investigate the incident further and compensate the passengers who were blocked from flying.
“This non-excuse fails to admit errors or identify the excluded passengers as Jews. It also refers to them as a group, although many were strangers. They had one thing in common – to be visibly Jewish, “ADL said in response to Lufthansa’s statement.
The video, first reported and shared by discount travel site Dan’s Deals, was posted on YouTube and Instagram, where it sparked angry comparisons with the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.
Passengers were also banned from buying another ticket to Budapest for 24 hours.
The Jewish travelers were on an annual pilgrimage to visit the grave of Rabbi Yeshayah Steiner, a supposedly miraculous rabbi who died in 1925 and is buried in a village in northeastern Hungary. According to Dan’s Deals, an estimated 135 to 170 Jews were on the flight, 80 percent of them wearing visible Hasidic clothing.
According to a statement from Lufthansa on Monday after the incident, there was a large group of passengers who “refused to wear the statutory mask (medical mask) on board.”
“For legal reasons, we are unable to disclose the number of guests involved in the incident,” the statement, obtained by Dan’s Deals, states. “Lufthansa will continue to comply with all legal requirements, including the mask mandate imposed by the German government and those of the countries served. We do this without prejudice and [for] the well-being of all our guests. ”
Rabbi David Zwiebel of Agudath Israel of America on Monday wrote a letter to Lufthansa chief Carsten Spohr requesting that the incident be investigated after hearing “disturbing reports”.
“People were punished only because they shared ethnicity and religion with the alleged violations,” the letter said.
