Antisemitism Group Claims Racist Message Was Scrawled On Kosher Meal On JetBlue Flight
- The U.S.-based group StopAntisemitism claims a racist note was scrawled on the packaging of a Kosher meal served to a Jewish passenger onboard a JetBlue flight.
- The incident comes just days after a similar incident occurred on an Iberia flight to Madrid.
A U.S.-based group dedicated to bringing attention to anti-Semitic incidents claims a Jewish passenger on a recent JetBlue flight was served a Kosher meal with a racist note scrawled on the packaging.
The aptly named StopAntisemitism group shared an image of the meal on its official account on X, which showed the outer layer of the meal with the handwritten message “Zio Nazi” scrawled on the sticker.
Zio is believed to be short for Zionism – the term used to describe the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Israel.
In its post on X, the grassroots group wrote: “StopAntisemitism is sickened to see a JetBlue passenger receive his kosher meal with ‘zionazi’ written on it.”
“Whomever is responsible for this must be immediately fired – this is 1941 and Jews will NOT put up with this hate.”
It is not known when or where exactly the incident occurred, although the fact that the meal is labeled as Core (JetBlue’s version of Economy) would suggest that the meal was served on one of the airline’s transatlantic flights.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for JetBlue told us: “At JetBlue, we have zero tolerance for hate, bias, or discrimination. We are deeply disturbed by the image circulating on social media and have launched an immediate investigation to determine which flight this may have occurred on.”
The statement continued: “So far, no reports or complaints have been submitted by any customers. Nonetheless, our investigation is ongoing and we have notified the authorities to assist. If we determine that any individual associated with JetBlue or our catering partners was involved, we will take swift and appropriate action.”
The alleged incident was made public just days after the Spanish flag carrier Iberia confirmed that a passenger on an international flight from Buenos Aires to Madrid was served a Kosher meal with the hand-written words “Free Palestine” scrawled on a label.
Several other passengers also allegedly were served Kosher meals with the initials ‘FP’ written on them.
In response, the airline said it had immediately opened an investigation, although it appears that someone in the airline’s third-party catering facility in Argentina may have been responsible.
“Iberia is conducting a thorough investigation, both internally and with the external suppliers responsible for catering, intending to clarify what happened and take all appropriate measures,” the airline explained in a statement.
“The Iberia crew documented what had happened and got involved to assist those affected. The commander personally approached them to apologise on behalf of the airline.”
Iberia is owned by the same parent company as the European low-cost carrier Vueling, which became embroiled in its own antisemitism row last month when it was accused of booting a group of 50 Jewish French teenagers from a flight.
The group was returning home to Paris after attending a summer camp in Valencia, but Vueling called the Guardia Civil to have the 50 children and their minders removed from the flight.
Following their removal, one of the minders got into an altercation with a police officer and was forcibly arrested. Vueling insists that the children were only removed from the flight because they repeatedly interrupted the safety demonstration and tampered with onboard safety equipment.
Change log: Updated on August 10 with a statement from JetBlue.
