After a flight attendant incorrectly stated that the Israeli city of Tel Aviv was “in Palestine,” Ryanair’s CEO issued an apology.
Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair, reportedly informed the Simon Wiesenthal Center that “it was an innocent mistake.”
The B’tsalmo- Human Rights in the Jewish Spirit organization pleads with Ryanair to dismiss the employee who declared Tel Aviv a part of “occupied Palestine” over the aircraft’s PA system.
The letter was addressed to Ryanair, the Israeli Embassy in Dublin, the Irish Embassy in Israel, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Transportation, and Diaspora Affairs of Israel and was signed by B’tsalmo CEO Shai Glick.
FR 3794, on June 10, 2023, says, “Passengers on a Ryanair aircraft from Italy to Tel Aviv were astonished after a flight attendant repeatedly referred to their eventual destination as “Occupied Palestine.”
The flight attendant repeated the statement numerous times in both English and Italian, “All passengers are requested to return to their seats as the aircraft is about to land in Tel-Aviv in occupied Palestine.”
The letter went on to say, “Ryanair’s CEO reportedly apologized and said he was ‘100% satisfied that this was an innocent mistake with no political overtones or intent.'”
“We find the incident highly offensive and the flimsy excuse provided in the apology to be dishonest and insulting. This was clearly an intentional and highly offensive, and malicious political statement by the flight attendant. The name of a country is not something that people make ‘innocent mistakes’ about, especially not in the context of the highly sensitive Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
“The attendant’s statement severely upset and humiliated your customers on that flight and around the world and may have even caused fear that the flight was hijacked by terrorists. Management’s insulting excuse has made it even worse,” the letter continued.
“At this point, many Israeli and Jewish passengers would feel uncomfortable to travel on Ryanair since the abusive flight attendant is still employed by Ryanair and because the lame response from Ryanair’s management is likely to encourage other Ryanair staff to insult and humiliate Israeli customers in the future.”
“Ryanair management should release a new statement acknowledging the attendant’s malicious behavior.
“We urge Ryanair to dismiss that employee. If Ryanair fails to do so, many Israeli and Jewish customers will be hesitant to use Ryanair’s services in the future”.
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