Airlines have been suspending service to the Middle East over security concerns. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D–N.Y.) believes that's a form of discrimination.

When Israel and Iran started rattling the saber at each other last month, foreign airlines took no chances. Many companies suspended service to Israel as well as neighboring Lebanon, which has been in a low-intensity border war with Israel, and Jordan, which was in the path of a previous Iranian air raid on Israel.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D–N.Y.) believes that this risk calculation is really an act of “discrimination against the Jewish State.” In a letter first reported by Jewish Insider, he demanded that American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines “restore air travel to Israel” unless the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says otherwise.

Torres did not mention the flight cancellations to Jordan or Lebanon, both of which also host large numbers of American citizens.

  • @[email protected]English
    30•3 months ago

    Wow this is a lot to unpack:

    • not doing flights to a country that is super trigger happy about aerial targets these days is “anti-Semitic”?
    • forcing companies that have halted routes out of safety (likely, rooted in insurance costs and actuarial tables) to restart said routes is reasonable?

    Man, Torres is WILD with his Israeli apologia.

    • @[email protected]
      3•3 months ago

      Reopen the flights as long as he volunteers to be on every flight in and out, and if he thinks that’s too dangerous he has to resign.