Ultra-Orthodox Men Disrupt El Al Flight, Petition Calls on Airline to Defend Women

An incident aboard an El Al flight where ultra-Orthodox men refused to sit next to women has draw public criticism of the airline’s handling of such situations.

An El Al Israel Airlines flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) was disrupted last Wednesday when, according to reports by the English-language version of the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men refused to take seats next to female passengers. One passenger, who was aboard the flight on the morning September 24, just before Rosh Hashanah, described the ordeal to Ynetnews as “an 11-hour long nightmare.”

Before the flight could take off, hundreds of ultra-Orthodox passengers reportedly bullied other passengers to trade seats with them, claiming they were not permitted to sit next to women. The ultra-Orthodox men refused to take their assigned seats until the pilot announced the plane would not leave the gate until everyone was seated.

Passengers onboard the El Al flight allege that as soon as the “Fasten Seatbelt” sign was turned off, the men left their seats and congregated in the aisles, blocking access to restrooms and meal service.

“People stood in the aisles and refused to go forward,” Amit Ben-Natan, a passenger on the plane, told Ynetnews.

El Al has since promised to investigate the incident. The carrier cited the religious holiday as a possible contributing factor, stating:

These days bring with them a peak in air traffic to Israel, and our crews on the ground and in the air are doing the best they can to address the needs and requests of all our travelers while trying not to fall behind schedule.

A petition on change.org that accuses El Al of turning a blind eye to this sort of behavior from ultra-Orthodox passengers has received more than 1,000 signatures since the incident. The petition, which is addressed to El Al, states: “If a passenger was openly engaging in racial or religious discrimination against another passenger or flight attendant, they would immediately be removed from the plane.”

The petition goes on to ask, “Why does El Al Airlines permit female passengers to be bullied, harassed, and intimidated into switching seats which they rightfully paid for and were assigned to by El Al Airlines?”

[Photo: Amit Ben Natan]