El Al boss: Airline to ‘immediately’ remove flyers who won’t sit next to women
Israeli company says Orthodox passengers who create problems over seating will be taken off flights, after a big tech company announces it will no longer fly with them
El Al will “immediately” remove any passenger who refuses to sit next to another passenger for any reason, its CEO announced, but not before a major Israeli tech company announced it would no longer fly its employees on the airline.
On Monday, NICE System’s CEO Barak Eilam announced via posts on social media that “At NICE we don’t do business with companies that discriminate against race, gender or religion. NICE will not fly @EL AL Israel Airlines until they change their practice and actions discriminating women.”
Eilam’s announcement came days after an El Al flight from New York to Israel was delayed by more than an hour after four Charedi men refused to take their assigned seats next to women. Two women eventually agreed to change their seats in order to allow the flight to take off.
An account of the incident was posted on Facebook by a passenger, the Israeli rapper Khen Rotem.
NICE, based in Raanana, has an annual company revenue of over £755m ($1 billion).
El Al CEO Gonen Usishkin said in a statement Monday evening: “The post by the CEO of Nice was made hastily without checking the facts, and I made that clear in a call with him. The El Al personnel who dealt with the incident did so with due sensitivity. Anyone who flies on the national airline senses the values on which we built the company: an egalitarian company that makes no distinctions on the basis of religion, race or gender. For the removal of doubt, today I ordered that the procedures on this matter should be tightened, and in future any passenger who refuses to sit beside another passenger will immediately be removed from the flight.”
Following the incident on Thursday evening, El Al apologised in a statement and added: “Any discrimination by passengers is absolutely forbidden. El Al flight attendants do everything that they can to provide service to a wide range of passengers and various requests and try to assist.”
One year ago, an Israeli court ruled that El Al cannot ask women to move seats to accommodate a man who does not want to sit next to a woman. The court was responding to a lawsuit filed by a female Holocaust survivor in her 80s.
Keep community journalism free.
Jewish News is free for everyone. No paywall. No barriers. Just trusted journalism for anyone who wants to stay connected to Jewish life in Britain.
If you value that, please support us.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help keep our journalism free and accessible to all.
Every day, we report on the issues that matter to our community. We celebrate achievements, support charities, challenge antisemitism and ensure Jewish voices are heard more widely.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help us continue to:
- Report on the stories shaping Jewish life in the UK and beyond
- Bring our community together through shared stories, events and campaigns
- Celebrate the people, culture and moments that define our community
- Support organisations doing vital work across Jewish Britain
You can make a one-off donation or become a regular supporter. Every contribution helps keep our journalism free, independent and accessible to all.
If everyone who values Jewish News gave a small amount, it would make a real difference to our future.
