(VOR News) – The United States Department of Transportation has fined the German Lufthansa airline, Germania, four million dollars on claims that it discriminated against a certain group of Jewish passengers.
The regulatory body declared on Tuesday that 128 people had been denied access by Lufthansa to a connecting flight in Germany due to their typical Orthodox Jewish attire. These people were traveling from New York City to Budapest, Hungary, in the month of May 2022.
Because of the supposed misbehavior of some passengers, the Department of Transportation said that employees of Lufthansa “treated them all as if they were a single group and denied them boarding”.
This happened even though many Lufthansa employees did not travel together or know each other.
It has been alleged that a number of the persons in the group disregarded Lufthansa airline’s mask rules. Lufthansa Airline employees told customers that “everyone has to pay” for the mistakes made by a certain number of people, according to a video that was captured during the incident.
They then went on to describe “everyone” as “Jewish coming from JFK.” In German media at the time, there were reports that staff members refused to board people who they believed to be Jewish because they wore yarmulkes, or Jewish skull caps, or had sidelocks, known as payot in Hebrew.
Staff members allegedly denied the individuals board membership because they thought the individuals were Jewish.
The Department of Transportation has hit a Lufthansa airline with the harshest fine it has ever assessed due to a violation of civil rights.
US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg issued a statement regarding today’s action, asserting, “Today’s action conveys a definitive message to the Lufthansa airline industry that we are ready to investigate and act whenever passengers’ civil rights are infringed.” Yettigieg stated, “No individual should endure discrimination while traveling.”
According to NBC News in 2022, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt—who had represented Vice President Joe Biden’s administration as a special envoy against antisemitism—said the details of the Lufthansa airline’s treatment of the passengers were “unbelievable.”
Lipstadt also noted Lufthansa’s poor passenger treatment.
I instantly thought, “Oh, this must have been done incorrectly,” as soon as I heard it for the first time. “And then, of course, it turned out to be exactly right — actually, it turned out to be even worse than we had even thought,” she mentioned during our conversation. Nevertheless, the fact that this is being reported incorrectly by someone persists.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the airline said that it had collaborated fully with the Department of Transportation (DOT) throughout the investigation and that it had teamed up with the American Jewish Committee following the event. The incident that happened on Tuesday was addressed in the statement.
As to the aforementioned statement, “We have designed the first-ever training program in the airline industry to address antisemitism and discrimination for our managers and employees.”
This specialized training curriculum was developed as a result of our ongoing partnership. “Lufthansa is committed to having a positive impact on the world by serving as an ambassador of tolerance, diversity, and acceptance.”
The airline then expressed regret for the event and declared that it would have “zero tolerance for racism, antisemitism, and discrimination of any type.” An apology was made as soon as the situation happened.
The following is what Lipstadt said about 2022: “If any airline had done it, it would have been astounding.” Nevertheless, it was an unbelievable and awful irony that the German national airline was the cause of it.
SOURCE: NBC
SEE ALSO:
Donald Trump and the Bloomberg Editor Argue About Tariffs.
Alex Salmond, Leading Figure In Scottish Independence Movement, Dies At Age 69
Jimi Hendrix Unreleased Tracks, Dry-Cleaning Bills And Payslips To Go On Sale
