Ryanair calls it an innocent mistake, but a flight attendant who repeatedly referred to Israel as “Palestine” on a flight to Tel Aviv was unlikely simply confused as to the name of the nation.
Ryanair Apologizes After Flight Attendant Insists Tel Aviv Is In Palestine, Not Israel
On a flight from Bologna, Italy (BLQ) to Tel Aviv (TLV) a Ryanair flight attendant reportedly made an announcement in both English and Italian that the flight would be landing in “Palestine.” When it was brought to her attention by numerous passengers onboard that Tel Aviv is in Israel, she dug in and made further “Palestine” references.
This understatedly prompted outrage from a number of passengers. She (conveniently) was not wearing a name tag and when a passenger tried to take a picture of her in order to report her behavior, she threatened that passenger with arrest upon landing.
Ryanair has now issued a statement on the incident, calling the matter an “innocent” mistake by a “junior” flight attendant:
“A junior crew member on this flight from Bologna to Tel Aviv (10 June) made a routine descent PA mistakenly saying Palestine instead of Tel Aviv.
“This was an innocent mistake with no intent and was immediately corrected and apologized for by the senior crew member on board.”
Passenger accounts, however, suggest this was not innocent. One passenger told World Israel News that in discussing the matter, the flight attendant insisted that Tel Aviv was not in Israel, but in Palestine. Another passenger explained:
“We didn’t buy tickets on Ryanair to deal with anti-Zionist opinions.”
Yep.
A Flight Attendant Has No Business Stirring The Pot Of A Highly Controversial Geopolitical Issue
The whole Israel vs. Palestine debate is complex and not one we are going to solve here (let’s just blame the British for creating a mess!). But as neighbors including Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Morocco have realized, you cannot close your eyes and pretend Israel does not exist. And when it comes to Iran, sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
Whatever your views on Palestinian statehood, labeling Tel Aviv as part of Palestine on a flight full of Israeli and/or Jewish passengers is not good business.
It appears the flight attendant has a very strong opinion about the issue. That is understandable. But she should have simply said, “Tel Aviv” if she was unable to utter the word Israel. After all, there is no debate that the flight was traveling to Tel Aviv nor does Tel Aviv have an Arab name like Al-Quds for Jerusalem.
CONCLUSION
How stupid that an ignorant flight attendant decided she would represent her employer by alienating much of the aircraft on a flight from Italy to Israel. I’m not calling for her to be fired or for Ryanair to be boycotted, but I hope she has been warned–there should be no additional chance for such a poor lack of self-control.
(H/T: PYOK)
Stop with the “ists” Matt. You don’t knot if they were anti-zionists or not. Do I think this was an “innocent mistake, god no. However, there are plenty of non “ists” that believe it is Palestines territory. I disagree, but that’s not the point. Injecting oneself into a religious debate on the other side of the globe doesn’t help anyone.
I was quoting a passenger in that instance, but I do think that anyone who refuses to use the word Israel is a very ignorant (and deplorable)p person.
Even if they are Palestinian? I’m not saying the FA is right. I just have a problem with the constant use of “ist’s” in every situation where people disagree. That would be the same as someone from china being a “person racist against asians” if they believe the south china sea is theirs. It’s disputed territory. I do believe the FA was wrong, and it was certainly not a good business decision (IMO) to not fire this person. That being said, the overuse of “ist” is getting old. (not limited to you, or the pax above, which you indicated an agreement with the statement in your comment of “yep”.)
Brandon, don’t you see a difference between China insisting that the South China Sea is their own territory and/or wanting to fold The ROC back into the Mainland and the sentiment of many on the Palestinian side that these “infidel Jewish settlers” need to get off “their” land?
If one denies the right of Israel to exist, I do believe that person is “anti-Zionist” for reasons that I hope are clear. This not an easy situation and I am personally quite sympathetic to the Palestinian cause:
https://liveandletsfly.com/walled-off-hotel/
But I’m also sympathetic to the Israeli state and the remarkable things it has achieved since 1948.
The long-term question of what Israel will look like as an Apartheid state has no easy answer. The situation is wholly unique.
It’s absolutely *different*. I’m not arguing that it isn’t. It was probably a poor analogy. My point was just that we need to stop assuming that someone who *thinks* the territory is Palestine is the same person claiming all “jews” are “infidel settlers”. As you stated at the end, it’s far more complex. I don’t personally have a horse in this race. (I know, strange, since some here like to claim I’m a republican) I’ve just come across people who are on the Palestinian side who weren’t all “death to x people”, etc. It’s more nuanced than that. That was all I was getting at.
Neither ignorant nor deplorable.
You’ll have to explain. This isn’t 1948, but 2023.
Colonial occupiers are still colonial occupiers, regardless of the year.
Wow. That’s quite a position.
@Aaron
Colonization was a good thing.
Especually when history says Arabs are colonial occupiers and Israel existed before it was renamed Syria Palestina by Romans. Since you admit there is no time limit to be called a colonial settler, you must consider all Arabs in Israel to be exactly that.
But you see, Israel is much more tolerant than that and consider them Israeli citizens, with equal rights. Let’s hope a future Oalestine existing as a country for the first time in history will be at least that tolerant. But I am not holding my breath.
Being Arab is an ethnicity, not a race…
Israeli Palestinians are second class citizens. Israel is definitely an apartheid state.
Tempest in a teapot.
Since HB 900 passed in Texas today, the new history textbooks students in Texas will learn from agree with your premise that the British are at fault. Nothing else happened prior to 1948 that would have necessitated the creation of a Jewish state. Darn you, George VI !
What does this have to do with British if Jewish settlers and Muslim Palestinians and Christian Palestinians can’t live together and/or split the land as they see fit? Very similar to claiming the British are responsible for Kashmir. They are grown up. They can settle their disputes as grown ups.
Speaking of which, how is that different from the situation in Crimea? Wasn’t Crimea historially Russian before Nikita handled it over to ukrainians? Wasn’t Jerusalem historially Jewish before many fled to other parts of the World? Jews were only 32% of Israel population in 1947…
The tension between the Balfour Declaration and Hussein-McMahon Correspondence is a good starting point.
Less than 32%.
People like you think it’s ok to indoctrinate children into the alphabet ideology as well.
We do. When we’re done with your children they’re going to know so many letters.
Are zionists some sort of heroes? Some people have strong opinions on the matter and find it cowardly to remain silent.Many former zionists like Gabor Mate,highly regarded in the study of PTSD in Vietnam vets, have admitted to the wrongs they have inflicted on the Palestinian nation.But why take my word,educate yourself Matt and read what the International Human Rights Watch Committee says about Israel/zionists regarding their treatment of Palestinian rights.Does it belong on a Ryanair flt.announcement,no, perhaps not.But then one can argue many things are inappropriate on both sides whenever.
Unfortunately, History and Geography are no longer important in schools.
It is Palestine, in all times
Zionists will be defeated soon
Rotfl
The primary consideration of FAs should be the safety and comfort (in that order) of passengers. Pushing an agenda is not in the job description. Let’s take a truly Western example: Let’s say that an airline has adopted a Pride livery on a particular jet that just happens to be flying to somewhere with a significant LGBTQ+ population (say, for the sake of a cliche, SFO). One particular FA is a hardcore Christian and decides to make her opinion of Leviticus 19 and Romans 1:26-27 clear to everyone on board by using disparaging terms regarding San Francisco during the announcements. Might you feel that this FA has gone too far?
Morocco is not Israel’s neighbor. At least that much we should be able to agree upon.
The part of this that bothers me most of Ryan Air’s nonsensical apology. This wasn’t remotely an innocent error as onboard accounts make clear but rather a deliberate and repeated act. All Ryan Air had to do was apologize and say it regrets the actions of the crew member and it taking appropriate action.
But instead they are basically calling everyone onboard who reported this liars. Which can only make things worse not better.
“ Aaron
June 15, 2023 at 5:44 pm
Colonial occupiers are still colonial occupiers, regardless of the year.”
Shocking I say, shocking. Especially considering he would be thrown off a roof over there for his strange fetishes.
And you’d be first in line probably to throw off people like me.
Blame it all on the British…everyone else does!!
By the way, Boris (Bo Bo) Johnson just left Parliament.
Maybe he could use his wagging mouth to negotiate peace with Palestine and Israel.
Anything to get him out of London.
Ryanair could fly him there!!
So now flight attendants will need to complete a course in the history and geography of the Middle East.