Israeli-Arab and Palestinian abandon plane after passenger complaints

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Israeli-Arab and Palestinian abandon plane after passenger complaints

Agence France-Press in Athens
Tuesday 5 January 2016 16.24 GMT

Two passengers with Israeli documents left an Aegean Airlines flight after other Israelis protested about their presence, the company has said.

Israeli media identified the two as an Israeli-Arab and a Palestinian, and said the protesting passengers were Jewish. The incident occurred on Sunday night, delaying the flight from Athens to Tel Aviv by more than 90 minutes.

Aegean said: “An initially small group of passengers very vocally and persistently asked for two other Israeli passengers to be checked for security issues.”

The airline said one of the men held an Israeli passport and the other had a valid Israeli residence permit. It did not mention their ethnicity.

“While it is indeed unfortunate that they were possibly racially profiling the customers, indeed their fellow Israelis … safety must be first,” the company said.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/05/israeli-arab-and-palestinian-abandon-plane-passenger-complaints

[oberliner]

1. Trump would be proud

He wouldn't even let them fly into the country the next day if he had his way.

[Jefferson23]

2. Outrageous. n/t

[Little Tich]

3. What's wrong with these people? n/t

[geek tragedy]

6. You're right --Israelis' racism is always someone else's fault. nt

[leftynyc]

7. When blond haired

blue eyed Swiss are responsible for the daily stabbings and terrorist attacks, I'm sure Israel will have no problem searching them either. Once again, terrorism becomes the problem of the victim and the innocent little puppy terrorists have no responsibility at all. How pathetically predictable.

[geek tragedy]

8. are there daily stabbing on European airliners?

Blue-eyed blondes have killed their share of Jews over the years.

[leftynyc]

9. So what?

In the 30s I would have been fine with profiling all Aryans. Now it's not Aryans doing the killing but there are daily stabbings of Jews being done - not by blond haired and blue eyes people - but by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. Keep putting your head in the sand and whining about profiling while you ignore dead Jews - it seems to work for you..

[geek tragedy]

10. This wasn't profiling, it was throwing a racist hissyfit because two men were Flying While Arab.

These men had been searched for weapons and explosives.

The simple fact is that the bigots here didn't want to be around Arabs and threw an irrational shit fit much like small children until the airline rewarded their temper tantrum.

[leftynyc]

11. I see I'm dealing

with someone who has his own reality and will not acknowledge the reality that Israeli Arabs and Palestinians are killing Jews every single day. Not interested. Ciao.

[geek tragedy]

12. Which is completely irrelevant for international travel where everyone is searched for weapons.

I lack your tribal animus against Arabs, it is true.

Which is why I'm opposing explicit discrimination and why you're here endorsing racial discrimination.

[leftynyc]

13. Spare me the hysteria

I don't let pc bullshit get in the way of knowing what's right in front of my face. Neither do the Israelis (thankfully). Maybe the tsa should randomly inspect 3 year old kids and 97 year old white ladies. That's a good use of their time.

[geek tragedy]

14. Let's recap: your stance is that any Jew flying anywhere in the world should have the right

to have any Arab on their flight kicked off. Because that's exactly what happened here.

That's racist crazy talk.

We're not talking about security measures. We're talking about how Arabs were kicked off a plane--for which they had purchased tickets and had already submitted to all required security measures--because some racist Jews threw a temper tantrum and demanded that they get kicked off.

Fortunately, the victims of discrimination here were able to get rebooked on a flight without crazy racists on it.

Note that the two victims of anti-Arab racist discrimination were put on . . . El Al.

I guess your solution is to forbid Arabs Israelis from buying airline tickets?

[leftynyc]

15. Well, I guess I don't have

to post anymore since you're convinced you can read my mind. For the record, everything you just posted about my stance is complete bullshit but don't let that stop you. I'm done here.

[geek tragedy]

16. You're defending two people getting kicked off a flight because other passengers didn't like their

ethnicity.

That's straight-up Coulterism. Michelle Malkin made most of your arguments when arguing we should intern Muslims after 911.

Extrapolating your stance here, Arab Israelis would NEVER be able to fly in or out of Israel.

[King_David]

17. Actually they never say they wanted them "kicked off the flight " as you keep saying :

Aegean said: “An initially small group of passengers very vocally and persistently asked for two other Israeli passengers to be checked for security issues.”

I wouldn't trust anyone else's security except for ElAl myself...

Seems all they wanted was extra security checks ....

[geek tragedy]

18. What "extra security steps" are plausible once they're on the plane? Lock them in the latrine?

Note that the extra measures weren't enough--the hysterical mob insisted they get purged from the flight, because sharing a plane with Arabs was just something they were not willing to tolerate.

[King_David]

20. "18. What "extra security steps" are plausible once they're on the plane? "

Guess you've never flown El Al before ?

There's a reason that airline never suffers terrorist attacks.

[geek tragedy]

21. Go ahead and enlighten us as to what El Al does to Arab passengers

on planes that permits non-Arabs to avoid soiling their undies.

[King_David]

23. How the Israelis do airport security

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/11/yeffet.air.security.israel/

[geek tragedy]

24. No mention of any security measures once the passenger is on the plane.

And note that the mob was demanding they be kicked off, because they didn't want to be around Arabs.

So your thesis about "security measures' is objectively false

[King_David]

25. Not a thesis,

It's speculation.

Educated guess.

[geek tragedy]

26. Given that they demanded that the men be kicked off the plane, not sure

what the basis of that speculation is.

[leftynyc]

39. It's not just Arab passengers

so you can stuff that suggestion. I got pulled out of line and was told I couldn't bring my carryon on the plane (never understood the reasoning on that - I had to check my carryon) and was stopped also on the way home for extra security and found out when I got home they had left a lovely note telling me they had gone through my suitcase - this was on El Al and I'm a Jewish woman. I haven't flown even once since 9/11 when I haven't gotten an extra look whether I was patted down or my carryon was gone through - I suspect there must be a picture of a terrorist who I'm the spitting image of. So fucking what? I just suck it up.

[geek tragedy]

40. Have you ever had a mob of hysterical racists demanding that you get kicked off

your plane because of your race or ethnicity?

Because that's what happened here. Not security measures. Naked, hysterical, mob racism.

P.S. Israeli Arabs are more afraid of Israeli Jews than vice versa.

http://www.jta.org/2015/11/05/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/poll-majority-of-jewish-israelis-think-palestinian-terrorists-should-be-killed-on-the-spot

According to the poll, 57 percent of Jewish-Israelis fear they or someone close to them will be harmed, compared to 78 percent of Arab-Israelis. In addition, more Arab-Israelis (53 percent compared to 36 percent of Jewish-Israelis) say they have changed their daily habits in response to the security situation.

The survey also found dramatic Arab-Jewish differences on which terrorists to punish — and how.

Eighty percent of Jewish-Israelis said Palestinian homes should be razed if the homeowner or a family member carries out an attack “for nationalist reasons,” while 53 percent see this as an appropriate punishment for a Jewish person who carries out a nationalist-motivated terror attack. (Seventy-seven percent of Arab-Israelis oppose razing Palestinian homes, and 67 percent oppose razing Jewish ones.)

Perhaps you should keep in mind that Arabs are just as human as Jews. But, that would require changing your political position and ideology, so I will not hold my breath on that one.

[leftynyc]

41. Horseshit

And a hearty fuck you for the suggestion that I don't consider Arabs just as human as Jews. It's you that continually ignores dead Israelis and excuse the violence of their Arab population. I'm done with you. You're thoroughly dishonest and anyone who looks at what you posted to me will be disgusted.

[geek tragedy]

42. You're here making excuses for racism and racist harassment.

Because the harassers and racists are Jews, and the victims of the racism are Arabs.

People will be disgusted but not for the reasons you state.

[King_David]

45. It is disgusting

[shira]

50. Demanding them off the plane was clearly wrong. If suspicious, then check 'em out....

If things check out, what's the problem?

People can't demand kicking others off planes or buses just because they're nervous.

[King_David]

46. Now YOU are a spokeswoman for Israeli Arabs?

How interesting...that you think you can speak for this group...

[geek tragedy]

52. I'm citing polling data. nt

[geek tragedy]

19. You omitted this part: "By the time the police arrived to check the two passengers’ passports,

finding nothing suspicious, the outcry had spread.

“It started with three or four people and by the end there were 60-70 people standing up, demanding that the pair disembark,” a company spokesperson said"


This was racist hysteria. Pure and simple. And undeniable on the facts.

[azurnoir]

22. Yes they did want them kicked off the plane in fact it became a mob action

“It started with three or four people and by the end there were 60-70 people standing up, demanding that the pair disembark,” a company spokesperson said. “The pilot said anyone who does not feel safe to fly should disembark and would not be compensated. But by that stage, the two men were in a poor state and wanted to leave themselves.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/05/israeli-arab-and-palestinian-abandon-plane-passenger-complaints

[Jefferson23]

31. +1. Exactly right. n/t

[Little Tich]

28. Once an Arab, always an Arab, eh?

Besides, the limited range of weaponry permitted on board could pose a problem for potential stabbers- plastic knives, nail clippers, eyelash curlers etc won't really cause any fatal injuries. I really can't see any other force at work than racism here.

[shira]

37. What's worse, this fear of being attacked - or siding with Jew hating terrorists....

.....doing all the stabbings?

[Little Tich]

38. I'm always against the racists, in this case a planeload of Israeli dickheads.

This could only have been possible if they actually believed that all Arabs are evil terrorists. It's not about fear, it's about hate. This is an extraordinary event, as according to the story, most, if not all of the Jewish Israelis on board chose to take a stand for racism. Normally, I don't think this event would be possible - there's always the odd idiot, but not a whole plane...

Who do they think they are? The Kahane cheering squad?

[shira]

47. But u don't think it's racist to support fascists like Hamas whose goal is to murder Jews? n/t

[Little Tich]

55. I'm not sure why taking a stance against racism means support for Hamas.

OTOH, I don't understand why some people think being pro-Israel means that you have to be a racist.

[shira]

56. I didn't say that - I said those who DO support Hamas are racists w/o question...

But for some reason you don't see that support as racist, right?

[Little Tich]

57. It's not so simple.

Being a racist isn't necessary for supporting either Israel or Hamas. There are many other possible motivations, but in this particular case there was a plane full of racists, and if they support Israel in any way, it has to be because they're racists.

BTW, you seem to be critical of Gideon Levy. Isn't he just trying to expose expressions of racism in Israel's government? How is that support for Hamas?

[shira]

59. Actually it is. Supporting KKK or neo-Nazi attacks against Jews is clearly racist....

Do we at least agree there? It doesn't get more anti-semitic than that - agreed?

If so, supporting Hamas attacks against Jews is just as vile; just as racist.

Where am I wrong?

[Little Tich]

63. Nobody on that plane supported "KKK or neo-Nazi attacks against Jews".

This is drifting off-topic...

[shira]

65. Hamas is a racist org. dedicated to killing Jews. Do we agree on that at least? n/t

[6chars]

58. That.is a pretty ridiculous thing to.say

Just trying to get a rise?

[Little Tich]

62. Is there a safe distance that Israeli Jews should keep from Israeli Arabs at all times?

If Israeli Arabs can't even be allowed to be on an airplane where everyone is checked for security, they must be very dangerous indeed...

[shira]

5. Ask yourself how you'd respond after 3 months of random stabbing attacks

Or how your friends and family would respond.

Would you ask what's wrong with them?

[Jake Stern]

29. Would you be as understanding

if it were victims of a home invasion/assault committed by black males loudly demanding a black male passenger be re-seated away from them?

Prejudice is still prejudice even if the trigger is fear.

[shira]

30. No, with your example I wouldn't be as understanding...

If random Jews in my area of Massachusetts were being attacked non-stop for 3 months by blonde-haired, blue-eyed maniacs, I'd certainly be "prejudicial" towards Aryans and I wouldn't give it a 2nd thought.

[azurnoir]

27. some of responses on this thread are IMO shocking

[Jefferson23]

32. I don't think so, not at all. They're consistent with the foundation of their beliefs about

Palestinians.

[geek tragedy]

33. More revealing than shocking imo nt

[shira]

35. What's worse? Siding with the knife-wielding stabbers or those who fear them? n/t

[azurnoir]

48. so wait let me get this straight by saying what happened to the 2 men on the Aegean plane is wrong

it is the same as siding with "stabbers" , that would suggest that in the mind of some every Palestinian is to be held responsible for what every other Palestinian does regardless of citizenship, or guilty by ethnicity?

[shira]

49. I'm saying anti-Zionists overwhelmingly share the same goals as those....

....who "resist" the occupiers. They support, defend, and apologize for terror attacks against random elderly Jews and infants.

Which makes them 100x worse than these folks on the plane.

[azurnoir]

51. what has this got to do with the incident on the plane?

[shira]

53. Just pointing out how ridiculous it is for most Israel haters who single out....

....these particular Israelis when their brand of racism (being pro-Hamas) is at least 100x worse in comparison.

Chutzpah.

[azurnoir]

54. define Israel haters what exactly does that mean in your mind? Is Gideon Levy an Israel hater?

[shira]

60. Those who justify, defend or support Hamas rockets is an Israel hater - agreed? n/t

[azurnoir]

61. so who here has done that?

[shira]

66. Do we agree that justifying, defending, or supporting Hamas terror is racist/anti-semitic? n/t

[azurnoir]

68. define what "supporting Hamas" means to you in clear terms

ps I've read the links by Gideon Levy

[shira]

69. Supporting, defending, justifying Hamas' rocket attacks, suicide attempts - vs. Jews.

Racist and anti-Semitic?

[azurnoir]

70. why do you seem to prefer to say Jews instead of Israeli's?

really that's it and that's all because Mr Levy did defend Hamas attacks against Israeli's

I've read your comments on the links to Mr Levy's writings too

[shira]

71. So there's nothing wrong with supporting Hamas attacks against Jews (Israelis)?

Thanks.

[azurnoir]

72. Did I say that yes or no but your reply makes my point here

if I don't condem then to you it means I support neither is true

[shira]

73. I gave you 3 chances to answer. You punted. I only wanted a Yes or No.

Why is it so difficult for you to answer?

[azurnoir]

74. why so difficult for you? you define explaining as punting

maybe that's a clue, down thread you accuse Gideon Levy of supporting not only Hamas but the stabbing attacks when he did no such thing I can not answer someone who seems to deal in the realm of absolutes

[Israeli]

34. Wake Up, Arab Citizens of Israel

No Jew in the world, not even in 'anti-Semitic' France and probably not even in 'satanic' Iran, lives in such a regime of fear, deprivation and ostracism.

Gideon Levy Jan 06, 2016

Imagine what it’s like to be an Arab citizen in Israel today – only dread and despair. No Jew in the world, not even in “anti-Semitic” France and probably not even in “satanic” Iran, lives in such a regime of fear, deprivation and ostracism. You walk around Tel Aviv streets accompanied by fear and humiliation. In Jerusalem you might also get shot. In Afula you’ll be banished. Better not speak in your tongue, it’s inadvisable to dress like an Arab. Be a Jew on the street and an Arab at home.

Best of all, stay at home. But at home you might get raided by the police riot squad – perhaps you’re hiding the terrorist – working from the Shin Bet’s lists of names. You want to escape from all this abroad? On the way there you’re humiliated at Ben-Gurion Airport. On the way back they take you off the flight, at the demand of the raging crowd. Perhaps soon we’ll have flights for Jews only.

You live in your country on probation. No authority will help you. No government will save you. The courts discriminate against you, the budgets discriminate against you. The Knesset is racist, the media is ultra-nationalist. Expressions of Israeli Jewish solidarity are getting fewer. Nobody stood up on the Aegean Airlines flight to save the Israelis’ honor. Almost nobody stands up at all anymore. Even in liberal Ramat Aviv it’s hard to be an Arab construction worker without fear. Building its houses, cleaning its streets and carrying its deliveries is OK, but don’t be an Arab.

All this is happening just when a generation has arisen that is trying to integrate into a Jewish democratic state, which it was born into against its will. The Israeli answer to the integration effort is Benjamin Netanyahu. You wanted to be pharmacists in Superpharm, speak in a new Arab-Hebrew dialect, read Yediot Ahronoth and watch Channel 2? It won’t do you any good.

But paradoxically, the key to saving Israeli democracy is in the hands of this trampled minority. If Palestinian citizens of Israel – “Israeli Arabs,” in the name forced on them, choose surrender and groveling, Israeli democracy is doomed to destruction. The more they submit, the more they’ll be trampled, and democracy will be trampled with them. It will not be saved by the Jewish majority – which is indifferent to democracy’s fate or even sees it a danger – but by this minority, whose war for democracy is the war for its home and destiny.

It’s the third generation of the Nakba, and wonder of wonders – the Arabs may be the ones to determine what kind of system of government we’ll have. The first generation was paralyzed by the catastrophe, the second tried to probe its way forward apologetically. Now the third generation has risen, which could be the first for recovery and revival. There is now a Joint List in the Knesset, which could mark the beginning of the change, and there are impressive, proud young people who won’t agree to be humiliated as their parents were. Their chance must not be missed.

The mission is almost impossible. Jewish society is frightened, violent, hateful and haughty. The campaigns of incitement, intimidation and hatred have done their job. One terrorist from Arara is enough to escalate them. Israelis who talk about wild weeds among the settlers talk about the entire Arab community as a fifth column. You must not be silent, Arab friends. You must not bow your head.

It’s easy to preach and hard, of course, to do. It’s hard work when there is so little Jewish partnership. The authorities and the majority are against you. But much is on your shoulders – Yugoslavia, yes or no; democracy, yes or no; even the chance for the one-state solution. In Jewish society there aren’t enough forces yet to fight for these issues. They have been smitten. Now Ramat Aviv is hostile to you as well.

The road is long, but the direction is clear – no surrender. An impressive, promising representative Arab List is already operating in the Knesset, but it is excluded. You must not remain silent about that, either. Enough of giving in to the Jews on everything. Look at what the settlers have achieved, and they’re a smaller minority, though operating in much better conditions. So wake up, Arabs. It will (also) be good for the Jews.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.695900

[shira]

36. Revealing post - Gideon Levy supports the knife stabbing "resistance" against Jews....

....and then whines when Jews have fears about it.

[Israeli]

43. He does ......wow ........

..............where shira ??????

Was it here ??

Israel's Sleeping Beauties Have Awoken From Their Deathly Silence

Israelis didn't know about the Palestinians' suffering beyond the dark mountains a half an hour away. For the most part, they didn’t want to know.

Gideon Levy Oct 15, 2015

What did you think, the Palestinians would sit still indefinitely? Did you really think Israel would continue on its course and they’d just bow their heads in submission?

Do you know many historical examples of that? Is there one example of a brutal occupation that persisted without stoking resistance? Apparently that's what you thought, otherwise there would have been public pressure long ago to act, because who wants terror?

But Israel slid into a deathly silence, with darkness over the abyss, and now it’s acting surprised. It voted for the right, for ultra-nationalism, racism and messianism, and now it’s feelings are hurt.

After all, what did it ask for but some quiet, to be left alone from the occupation to which it’s not even linked, and from the resistance that has fallen on it like a natural disaster. Sleeping beauty has awoken to the sound of stabbings and car-rammings, and through the cobwebs of sleep it’s asking: How did this happen? How can they be doing this to us again?

You can’t blame Israelis — they were busy doing other things and knew nothing. Bar Refaeli’s wedding weighed heavily on people’s minds, as did events at the Allenby 40 nightclub. Israelis didn’t know exactly what was going on over there, beyond the dark mountains, half an hour’s drive from their homes — for the most part, they didn’t want to know.

The media gladly succumbed to their wishes. They hid the crimes of the occupation from people’s sight — such pictures don’t buoy ratings. The image of a Palestinian as a human being doesn’t sell newspapers. The media never reported what those people go through and what they really desire. It sufficed with diversions, incitement and propaganda. That pays better.

Politicians promised that everything would be fine, rabbis incited, settlers torched, the whole world is against us, just leave us alone. Then out of the blue those knife-wielding youngsters with murder in their eyes descended upon us. The quiet dissolved, security fizzled, businesses collapsed, dreams of jeep tours and quick vacations became uncertain.

The government blames the Islamic State and the left blames the lack of “peace talks.” Experts on Arab affairs — the southern branch of the Shin Bet security service and Military Intelligence — say it’s because of “incitement.” The wise sages of security issues say, as is their wont, that this time the other side must be hit hard. Everyone agrees that the Arabs are to blame because they were born to kill. Through this stupefying haze all connection to reality has been lost.

In the meantime, Jerusalem has become the capital of apartheid. No other city so discriminates and dispossesses or is so violent. Gun-toting Mayor Nir Barkat, who’s largely responsible for the discrimination and dispossession in his city, incites against a third of its population — an unbelievable phenomenon in its own right.

And you thought 300,000 people would acquiesce? That they’d watch settlers invade their homes as city hall denied them minimal services amid maximal property taxes? That they’d look on while the occupier arbitrarily denied them residence status, as if they were migrants in their own city?

That they would put up with Jewish gangs beating them up in full view of policemen and forgive? That a young man growing up in this reality — with his neighborhood a Soweto — would spend his life washing dishes and building homes for Jews with no chance of escaping his ghetto?

Did you really think right-wing provocations on the Temple Mount would pass quietly? That the burning of the Dawabsheh family would pass with no response — and even more so the defense minister’s arrogant claims that Israel knew who the perpetrators were but wouldn’t arrest them?

That their children would be burned helplessly with Israel not punishing anyone and they’d remain silent? That the response to all this would be more of the same: We’ll demolish, detain, dispossess, oppress, torture and kill more than ever — and (Jewish) Zion will be redeemed?

Did anyone really believe that?

Gideon Levy
Haaretz Correspondent

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.680443

[shira]

44. Yes, he does. You bolded it...

The first generation was paralyzed by the catastrophe, the second tried to probe its way forward apologetically. Now the third generation has risen, which could be the first for recovery and revival. There is now a Joint List in the Knesset, which could mark the beginning of the change, and there are impressive, proud young people who won’t agree to be humiliated as their parents were. Their chance must not be missed.

Levy has been even more clear in the past...

The Palestinians’ Right and Duty to Resist
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.622711

Of course, you need many more examples to prove the point? Here's more....

If the Gaza Strip doesn’t fire Qassam rockets at Israel, the Gaza Strip doesn’t exist. And if, in the West Bank, yeshiva students aren’t abducted, then the West Bank disappears from Israel’s consciousness.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.598719

Classy, huh? There's more...

Not only does he excuse terrorists today, but future terrorists of tomorrow:

The children of Gaza who survive this war will remember it. It is enough to watch Nazareth-born Juliano Mer Khamis' wonderful movie "Arna's Children" to understand what thrives amid the blood and ruin we are leaving behind. The film shows the children of Jenin - who have seen less horror than those of Gaza - growing up to be fighters and suicide bombers.

A child who has seen his house destroyed, his brother killed and his father humiliated will not forgive.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-idf-has-no-mercy-for-the-children-in-gaza-nursery-schools-1.268172

In the same article, Levy whitewashes Hamas' warcrimes, like their cynical use of using children as human shields...

One can say Hamas hides among the civilian population, as if the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv is not located in the heart of a civilian population, as if there are places in Gaza that are not in the heart of a civilian population. One can also claim that Hamas uses children as human shields, as if in the past our own organizations fighting to establish a country did not recruit children.

What a great guy. Deserves a prize for supporting terrorism, as well as Hamas' abuse of children as human shields.

This POS speaks for you? Seriously?

[Israeli]

64. Seriously.... yes he does shira .....

....but dont worry too much about it ....there are not that many of us , not enough to give Bibi and Co. any sleepless nights over :

[shira]

67. Did you see Gideon Levy on TV talking about the latest WRT Ezra Nawi? n/t