A female passenger on a United Airlines flight from Israel to New York claims she was yelled at by a flight attendant after she refused to accommodate an ultra-orthodox passenger’s request for her to change seats because he didn’t want to sit next to a woman. Like most incidents though, there are two sides to every story.
Neria the passenger: Neria Kraus ( a USA Channel 13 correspondent), said she was “humiliated” and felt discriminated against by the airline and the ultra-orthodox passengers. She tweeted “A United crew member yelled at me that the flight to NYC won’t take off because of me – after I refused an Ultra-Orthodox passenger’s request to change my seat. I was told the flight might touch down in Egypt and it would be my fault. What a humiliating event for me as a woman”.
The airline: United Airlines has responded to the above tweet, saying: “Hi there, Neria. We deeply apologise for this interaction and would like to look into this further. When you have a moment, please DM your confirmation number and further information about this situation.”
Nigel the accused: The man who Kraus claimed asked her to move seats told a different version of the story after they landed, saying he only asked her to move seats so that his son could sit next to his friend.
“First she was friendly, but I had a cap on and when I took it off she saw my yarmulka she started asking if I wanted her to move because she was a woman. She started screaming ‘discrimination’,” the man said afterwards.
Back to the passenger: Kraus refuted the man’s claim, calling it a “lie” and that they “explicitly stated that they did not want to sit next to me.”
“Every time a woman complains about exclusion, she is attacked as being against Judaism. Gross lie There is no connection between the humiliation of women and Judaism. Who saw a hat or no hat on the man’s head? Gross lie, slander and complete fake,” she added.
The witnesses: Since this story broke, witnesses on the flight have come forward to back up Nigel’s ( the accused passenger) story. They state:
‘We heard Neria initially agree to switch seats, before taking it back after Nigel removed his baseball cap to reveal his yarmulka’. Sol (a witness) described Neria totally blowing up at that point and she was feverishly working throughout the flight to spread news of an incident that never happened. They confirm there was no discrimination whatsoever and Neria went ‘ballistic’ for no reason other than to create a scene. The entire time Nigel remained a complete and polite gentleman.
The verdict: There’s no denying that the issue of ultra-orthodox men not wanting to sit next to women on flights to and from Israel has become an increasingly frequent phenomenon. The incident on United Airlines came just a day after a group of teenage girls were asked to sit in the back of a bus in Israel in order not to offend ultra-orthodox passengers with their clothes.
Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the incident stating “Israel is a free country in which no one will restrict who can use public transportation, and no one will dictate where she or he will sit”.
As for what occurred on this flight? We will let you be the judge.
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