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Wednesday 06 Jan 2016 - 12:16 Makkah mean time-26-3-1437
Athens, (IINA) - Two Israeli passengers of Palestinian-Arab descent were removed from an Aegean Airlines flight from Athens to Tel Aviv on Monday, after a group of Israelis protested their presence on the plane and repeatedly called for them to be checked for security, Newsweek reported.
According to the airlines statement, a group of Israelis “very vocally and persistently” requested an additional security check to the two Palestinian passengers. The two Arab-Israeli citizens are Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, the contested area of the holy city that Palestinians have designated as the capital of the Palestinian state.
“While it is indeed unfortunate that they were possibly racially profiling the customers … safety must be first”, the statement read. “The pilot did feel compelled to delay the flight and call the police so to check again the two [Arab-Israeli] passengers’ documents and identities”.
Despite the second security check meeting all of airport security’s requirements and the crew reassuring Israeli passengers, a larger group of Israeli passengers began to protest and demanded another security check of the cabin.
The captain closed the cabin door ready to begin the flight, but the Israeli passengers prevented take off by standing up. The two Palestinians subsequently agreed to disembark the plane, and they arrived on another flight from Athens to Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
“With the agreement of the two [Arab-Israeli] passengers that were affected, for which we are very thankful, we offered them overnight stay and transport the next day”, the airline spokesperson said. “We also offered any other passenger, of course, the possibility to disembark in case they did not feel secure”.
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Greece described the incident as “unfortunate” but would not comment further.
The airline said that the total delay to the flight was one hour-and-30 minutes and apologized to the two Palestinians for the incident. “We thank again the two passengers that agreed to disembark for their understanding and collaboration, and we apologize for the whole episode which was indeed extremely unfortunate”.
AG/IINA
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