128 U.S. Orthodox Jews Are Barred from Lufthansa Flight

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Ever since the end of World War II and the Holocaust, the Germans have made a show about fighting anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, like the nation’s fairly recent passage of strict laws against hate speech, detailed below:

The German penal code prohibits publicly denying the Holocaust and disseminating Nazi propaganda, both off- and online. This includes sharing images such as swastikas, wearing an SS uniform and making statements in support of Hitler.

It also places strict limits on how social media companies must moderate and report hate speech and threats. These hate-speech laws were, after three far-right terror attacks in 2019 and early 2020 prompted German authorities to warn of increasing extremism.

But anti-Semitism has a long history in Germany, and in 2022, we learned of an anti-Semitic incident on Lufthansa Airlines that demonstrates its persistence, which has now resulted in a $4 million fine by the U.S. Department of Transportation, a penalty incurred from allegations that Lufthansa Airlines had discriminated against a large group of Jewish passengers. The situation was mishandled in so many ways that we have to wonder if there was an underlying zeal for acting assertively against a large group of Orthodox Jews.

The passengers were traveling from New York to Budapest, Hungary for an annual memorial event for an Orthodox rabbi. Although there were 128 Jewish passengers, they were not traveling as a group. There are inconsistencies in the stories about what instigated the passengers’ removal after they disembarked in Frankfurt and then were not permitted to reboard to continue their trip to Budapest, but here’s what an article at CNN reported:

The misbehavior detailed in the [airline] report includes 60 passengers onboard ‘repeatedly disregarded’ safety and public announcements from flight attendants and the flight deck. The crew said that some passengers obstructed flight attendants in economy class from its on-board food and beverage service, ‘inconvenienced other passengers’ and argued with the crew about wearing masks.

Another description from other passengers, via an item at The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, doesn’t appear to confirm these comments:

On the first leg of the flight, some passengers said they were told by the crew to wear face masks and not to stand in the aisles. The passengers said they didn’t see anyone that didn’t comply. Lufthansa at the time required passengers to wear a face mask, while U.S. and German law prohibit passengers from assembling in aisles or galley areas during a flight.

The captain of the flight informed a Lufthansa security manager of misbehavior by passengers traveling on to Budapest. No specific passengers were identified, according to the Transportation Department. Still, the airline put a hold on more than 100 passengers’ tickets. 

Finally, a press release sent out by Lufthansa:

In a press release, the airline said the incident ‘resulted from an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process’ and that these actions, ‘although regrettable, do not support any finding of discrimination and the department’s findings in this case.’

I suspect that many explanations could be credited to the employees and passengers involved, but to say that the targeting of a religiously garbed group of orthodox Jews was not an act of discrimination is hard to swallow. Then again, the airline was probably reluctant to acknowledge that discrimination may have played a role.

In case you are wondering how the Department of Transportation could fine Lufthansa (a record fine against an airline), the flight originated from the U.S. and Lufthansa’s foreign air carrier permit requires it to obey U.S. laws.

To me, this incident raises many concerns about current-day anti-Semitism, particularly in Germany and Europe:

• Although Germany has made a legislative effort to ostensibly rid its country of anti-Semitism, by applying penal codes to just about any anti-Semitic act, it appears that these insidious beliefs persist.
• Several airline employees, supposedly voluntarily, participated in removing the Jews from the flight.
• No effort appeared to be made to identify the perpetrators. An assumption seemed to have been made that all of the Jews were guilty of misbehavior simply by virtue of being obviously Jewish.
• You can’t legislate and transform the thoughts and behaviors of people through training programs or other penalties, unless they are willing to change.

Lufthansa Airlines certainly has reason to be embarrassed by this incident, and has taken actions to try to avoid this type of episode in the future.

Lufthansa said Tuesday it has cooperated with the Transportation Department and will continue to have a dialogue with Jewish organizations and advocacy groups. It said it has created antisemitism and discrimination training for its employees. 

I’ve no doubt that these are good faith efforts by Lufthansa to make amends, tone down the negative rhetoric, and to rid themselves of the anti-Semitic mindset. The problem is that even with all of the public condemnation of anti-Semitism in Germany and ongoing steps to curb anti-Semitic behavior, these mitigation efforts don’t appear to be that successful.

Anti-Semitism will continue to be endemic to the world.

Image: MarcelX42, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.