Logo
6 out of 10 Articles
Air planes of German carrier Lufthansa at the airport in Frankfurt

Dozens of Jews Removed from Lufthansa Flight over COVID-19 Masks

Germany’s leading airline, Lufthansa, issued a public apology on Tuesday, May 10, after dozens of passengers, whose appearance clearly showed them to be Jewish, were not allowed to board a flight in Frankfurt last Wednesday because some of them allegedly did not comply with COVID-19 mask rules.

“Lufthansa regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude affected passengers from the flight, for which Lufthansa sincerely apologizes,” said the statement. “While Lufthansa is still reviewing the facts and circumstances of that day, we regret that the large group was denied boarding rather than limiting it to the non-compliant guests.”

Some passengers on a flight from New York to Frankfurt had not complied with COVID-19 masking mandates, including some of the identifiably Jewish passengers traveling to visit the tomb of Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner of Kerestir in Hungary. Jewish passengers had also reportedly irritated the flight crew by praying in the plane’s aisles.

“We confirm that a larger group of passengers could not be carried yesterday on Lufthansa flight LH1334 from Frankfurt to Budapest because the travelers refused to wear the legally mandated mask (medical mask) on board,” Lufthansa said.

After the flight from New York had landed in Frankfurt, the Jewish passengers waited to board their connecting flight – only for the passengers, who were visibly Jewish, to be allegedly singled out and denied boarding. Lufthansa reportedly identified many of the Jewish passengers as part of a large travel group, reportedly punishing them collectively.

“I’m not with the group,” one Jewish traveler said in a video of the incident. “Is this a Lufthansa decision that all Jewish people that were on the flight can’t get on any flight today – because this is 2022 and this is a Western country and this has to go up to upper management.”

A Lufthansa representative explained to the Jewish passenger that everyone had to pay for the action of the other passengers. Non-Jewish passengers reportedly faced no such denial to board, despite allegedly also flouting masking requirements.

“Jewish people who were the mess, they made the problems,” said the representative.

"Lufthansa's 'apology' makes no mention of the fact that it was Jews specifically who were denied boarding the plane," noted the American Jewish Committee.

"This 'apology' is a cop-out," a report pointed out. “It calls the denied passengers a large group, when in fact there were several dozen Jews on the flight who were denied boarding, despite not being part of any group! This apology skirts the primary issue of racial profiling by Lufthansa employees." (JPost/ VFI News)

My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! - Psalm 31:15