Tel-Chai Nation

It seems some Haredi passengers en route from California to New York led to an incident that takes away vital attention better reserved for more grave matters like Islamic terrorism:

Three haredi passengers were removed from a flight earlier this week en route from California to New York, after they changed seats for religious reasons.

The incident began when an elderly haredi man who was on the flight from Palm Springs, California, to JFK, New York, sat down in an empty seat.

When the flight attendant asked him why he moved and asked him to return to his seat, two Jewish women on the flight explained that it was a religious matter and he refused to sit next to a woman.

The women offered to switch places with him and another passenger, Ron Pesaro, also offered the elderly man his seat in order to settle the matter.

In an interview with Forward that reported on the incident, Pesaro said that at this point the flight captain and a security guard showed up and told the haredi passengers that they had to get off the plane.

The security guard was quoted as saying that, "The captain and crew have made this decision. You are getting off this plane," adding that, "changing seats is a violation regarding weight imbalance. You have to sit in the places assigned to you."

Rachel Sklar, who was also on the flight, posted about the incident on X. "They said it was blatant antisemitism. I said, 'That's for sure. The whole thing was really upsetting. It seemed very unnecessary and quite confusing ... Why is Jetblue ejecting orthodox Jewish passengers for asking to change seats? I’ve been sitting here the whole time and it was fine..'"

Sklar claimed that flight attendants have wide discretion when it comes to changing seats. According to her, changing seats is a common phenomenon and happens for various reasons, such as sitting together with family members, or for other reasons.

Now, I realize antisemitism may certainly have played a part here, and that's utterly abominable. But it doesn't excuse the Haredi passengers' perpetuation of the "custom" they're going by of not sitting next to a woman, which has no solid basis in Judaism outside of synagogue prayer. A man who can't handle being around woman is not setting a good example as a man. I'm sorry this incident had to happen. But the "custom" is still utterly shameful, and any woman who sees nothing wrong with it is making a terrible mistake that's hurt plenty of other women, and takes away vital attention from more pressing issues like Islamic terrorism, especially after the October 7, 2023 massacre by the Hamas.

Labels: anti-semitism, california, dhimmitude, haredi corruption, islam, Israel, jihad, misogyny, Moonbattery, New York, sexual violence, terrorism, United States, war on terror