“The Palestinian leadership on Wednesday demanded the Greek government act after two Arab passengers were expelled from an Israel-bound flight, saying the decision to remove the pair was “reminiscent” of apartheid.
Two Arab passengers with Israeli documents were forced off an Aegean Airlines flight before it set off from Athens to Tel Aviv on Sunday after Israeli Jews protested their presence.
After an initial complaint by passengers, the pair’s documents were checked again by Greek security but no issues were found. By that stage the protest had escalated, with dozens of passengers refusing to take their seats until the men were removed from the plane.”
I have always had a fondness for moral dilemmas and, make no mistake, this incident is not nearly so black and white as many people, most particularly the Palestinian Authority, would have you believe.
Most westerners would suggest that this is a case of straight-up anti-Palestinian racism on the part of the Jewish passengers, thus we get this pithy observation in the comments:
Matthew Shirlock · Stanmore College
Only a racist will support this
Of course, others will use this alleged “racism” as an excuse to indulge in antisemitism.
And, therefore, we get this:
Lee Trotsky · Harvard University
Racist Jews…how typical
Thus the Jewish people, who are among the very least “racist” people on the planet, get smeared with the broad brush of bigotry.
Southend Mutombo · Wayne State University
This is wrong in so many levels If it happened to a Jew he would of owned the airline since they are Palestinian nobody want to make a big deal about it shame on Jews
This is an interesting comment for a number of reasons. Mr. Mutombo, of venerable Wayne State University, believes that this incident reflects poorly on all Jews, everywhere. “Shame on Jews,” he writes.
Yes. Yes. This incident tells us that Jews, in general, are terrible people and, furthermore, because we are so crafty and greedy “If it happened to a Jew he would of owned the airline…”. {My emphasis.}
In the minds of the complaining passengers, however, their wariness of one of the Palestinian-Arabs is entirely justified:
An Israeli man who was among the passengers involved in the incident defended the the group’s actions on Wednesday, maintaining that the two Arab men were “scary” and that he and the other passengers believed they were terrorists.
The man, identified only by his first name, Nissim, told Army Radio that one of the two Arab passengers in particular “looked off and his body language was very threatening.”
“He had a penetrating and scary look,” Nissim said, claiming that a lot of other passengers were similarly spooked by the man.
I have two observations:
1) The Palestinian Authority glorifies the murderers of Jews and then charges Jews with “racism” or “apartheid” when Jewish people thereby become wary of angry Arabs on planes. This is unjust.
2) The western governments have admonished their people to be careful ever since 9/11. However, when their citizenry takes them up on that advice they are often lambasted as “racist.” This also unjust.
(The Hypocrisy of the Palestinian Authority)
And who wants “racism” and “apartheid”?
Everyone knows what you do to racist and apartheid states. You eliminate them. Just as Nazi Germany was taken down militarily, and apartheid South Africa was dismantled via the economic will of the international community, so Israel, too, must be shaken to its foundation until it crumbles and is replaced by yet another regressive, misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic, theocratic, Muslim dictatorship.
(The Hypocrisy of Western Authorities)
When 14 year old Ahmed Mohamed walked into his high school with a briefcase going “tick-tick-tick-tick” what would anyone expect? Nonetheless, suddenly everyone seemed to swing off their banana peels, screeching to the gods about racism.
I am sorry, but they cannot have it both ways.
The PA cannot incite genocidal hatred toward Jews and then complain when Jewish people are wary of glowering Arabs on planes headed to Israel from Europe.
Further, the western governments cannot instill fear and loathing into their people, request that they respond to apparent threats, and then accuse them of racism for responding to those apparent threats.
Originally posted at ISRAEL THRIVES
It is a changing world unfortunately. I traveled to the Caribbean and was body patted, my luggage was gone through and I truly felt singled out, but I really wasn’t being singled out. We cannot be careful enough and airlines must do everything they can for the safety of their passengers, air pilots and stewards/stewardesses. It is not a pleasant price to pay but this problem did not rise out of the blue and is is something we are going to continue to have to deal with unless the world somehow miraculously changes.
I hope every reader of JDU reads this not once but twice and really thinks about this, on the surface, simple situation.
And as Michael points out it happens to us often. In Michael’s case it is to a traveling companion called “Laurie”…..it happens to me. I cannot pass through an airport in Australia without being checked over. I can well understand the feelings of those passengers and it would appear that the two individuals concerned understood those sentiments as well. It seemed as though the airline handled it well. As Jodie notes that’s the world we live in. Michael is right to draw our attention to what gave rise to the concern of the passengers:- You cannot preach terror and then complain when people act terrorised.
We hear of similar situations often, we are subject to the searches and the checks and say “Well that’s the way it is”……..So it is important that we note this “new normal”.
Michael and Jodie rightly ask…..”Is that really the way it has to be?” Is this really the “new normal”. I think not. We should rightly do all in our power to ensure that terrorism and the response to terrorism to not become normative in our world.
Jodie and Larry,
thank you for the kind words.
I think that terror, and our responses to terrorism, are, in fact, becoming the new normal.
In Israel, of course, it has been “normal” since before the creation the state. In fact, one might say that it became normal as far back as the 7th century.
Europe is going to be subject to the constant drip, drip, drip of terror attacks and the US and Australia are up next.
What never fails to astonish me, however, is that our left-leaning friends and neighbors simply cannot bring themselves to honestly address the question of political Islam, or Islamic terrorism, because they think that doing so is “racist.”
I think that not doing so is just plain dumb.