Just recently, in yet another incident reflecting the prolonged suppression of pro-Palestine voices, a Jewish-American was threatened with being removed from a Delta Airlines flight just for wearing a T-shirt calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Louie Siegel, a recent graduate from Macalester College and anti-Zionist organizer, was approached by flight staff on a Delta flight from São Paulo to Chicago that month. Siegel was wearing a T-shirt that read, “Not in Our Name,” in the front, and the back read, “Jews Say Ceasefire Now.”.
According to Siegel, a flight attendant came over to him before takeoff, asking that he turn the shirt inside out or change shirts altogether because other passengers were complaining. When Siegel refused to do so, citing his Jewish background and the nonviolent message, a purser said he would have Siegel removed from the aircraft if he didn’t comply with their demand.
“They threatened to send me to the police as soon as we landed if I put on my ‘Jews Say Ceasefire Now’ T-shirt again,” Siegel told Truthout in an interview. It is far from being an isolated incident, as violence and threats against Palestinians and their supporters have escalated since the Israeli-Gaza war in October 2023.
- December 2023: American Airlines is investigating a complaint made by a passenger who reported being asked to take off a pro-Palestinian sweatshirt, or police would be called upon his arrival.
- March 2024: Two passengers were removed from a plane in Amman for merely wearing T-shirts bearing the Palestinian flags.
- May 9, 2024: JetBlue banned their in-flight crew from wearing political pins after receiving complaints about a flight attendant who sported a Palestinian flag pin.
These recent events recall an incident in 2006 in which human rights activist Raed Jarrar was barred from boarding a plane at JFK Airport for wearing a T-shirt with Arabic text.
Siegel, who grew up in Skokie, Illinois, issued a statement explaining why he wore the shirt like that: “I wore this shirt to pay tribute to my ancestors, who were Jews. They fled antisemitic hatred in Eastern Europe and became involved in leftist anti-racist and anti-capitalist activism in the United States.”
Also Read – How to Change Your Name on Delta Airlines?
He continued linking his background as a Jew and his belief regarding the conflict: “In fact, I believe this Jewish-American historical legacy is entirely consistent with anti-Zionism. I can assuredly declare that my immigrant ancestors would have detested an idea of murdering the number of at least 38,764 Palestinian people, up to July 9, 2024, and maybe more than 186,000 according to the Lancet medical journal, for the sake of supposedly defending Jewish safety.”
It raises very profound questions about freedom of expression and the role of airlines in protecting political utterances. How complex issues like these, since the Gaza conflict touches this sensitive subject, will be dealt with in public discourse is yet to be seen.