Jewish passenger attacks flight attendant over pro-Palestine pin badge

Jewish passenger attacks flight attendant over pro-Palestine pin badge

American Airlines removed a Jewish passenger after he accused a flight attendant of being ‘anti-Semitic’ for wearing a watermelon pin. The video shows the local Sheriff escorting the man off the flight.… pic.twitter.com/cfTJzqRqFU

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) January 7, 2025

A Jewish passenger on American Airlines has attacked a flight attendant and called her “anti-Semitic” for wearing a watermelon pin badge, which has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity.

A video clip of the incident on board the Miami-bound aircraft has gone viral on social media. It showed the man in a heated argument with the flight attendant as he berated her for wearing the pin and not letting him leave the plane.

“You support terrorism, you are anti-Semitic,” shouted the passenger. “Why are you preventing me from leaving the plane, is it because I am Jewish? You are anti-Semitic.”

The flight attendant and her colleague informed the man that he could not film them, according to US aviation regulations, and accused him of putting his hands on them.

The passenger was allegedly told he was not allowed to leave until he deleted the video and had to wait for police to escort him out, but the man claimed that he was the one who called the police for help.

“Once officers came, they told them I didn’t break any laws and they are the ones breaking the law by holding me on the plane for stupidity and they still refused to let me go so the officers got really upset and took me off the plane,” said the passenger. “It was very upsetting to be treated like a criminal.”

American Airlines said that it is investigating the incident, which occurred last week.

According to the New York Post, American Airlines forbids its staff from wearing unauthorised pin badges that are not part of the official uniform. According to the company’s policy, staff are only allowed to wear company-issued pins that celebrate an anniversary or award, or a union pin from a company-recognised organisation. It also allows pins to be worn that celebrate military service as well as other specific pins celebrating religion, ethnicity or LGBTQ pride.

The airline’s staff previously made headlines over a break with this policy when pilots and flight attendants were caught wearing pins and stickers with the anti-President Biden slogan “Let’s Go Brandon” in 2022.

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