A reader shared a complaint sent to Delta about a gate agent in Detroit working a flight to Atlanta who was wearing a Palestine flag pin on Wednesday.
As you know, Palestine is neither a country nor is recognized by the United States as a state.
The wearing of a Palestinian flag pin is at best political and at worst hate speech. It is seen by many Delta customers as a symbol supporting anti-Semitisim and the eradication and genocide of the Jewish people.
Just as Delta surely wouldn’t allow staff to wear a Nazi symbol or other overly political symbols on uniforms, staff should not be allowed to wear something that is unquestionably anti-Jewish, anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli.
Spain, Ireland and Norway now recognize a Palestinian State. The Catalan independence movement would like a word with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The Biden administration backing off of support for Israel is largely a function of Michigan being a battleground state, and concerns of Muslim voters staying home. Delta has a hub in Detroit, and the city’s Dearborn suburb has the largest Muslim concentration and largest mosque in North America.
Earlier this month a Delta employee at Washington Reagan National was spotted with a Palestine pin as well.
Last time we checked @Delta, your airlines is American based with no flights to “Palestine”.
Why is your employee at Ronald Reagan Airport wearing a Palestinian flag? pic.twitter.com/qyguQ7KLWn
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) May 1, 2024
It is possible to wear a Palestinian flag and believe you’re advocating for two states. That isn’t usually what it means. One wears the pin to represent that “from the river to the sea” that Jews will be cleansed from Israel, and the land will belong to Palestinians. At a minimum the frequency with which this message is attached to the symbol means it’s likely to be understood this way.
After JetBlue called the cops and banned a Jewish passenger who complained about a flight attendant wearing a Palestine pin, the airline updated its uniform policy to ban pins they have not approved.
Delta, on the other hand, did not speak out about their employee’s Palestine pin earlier this month when it gained attention. As with President Biden, the airline might have a problem with an important local constituency if it were to do so. JetBlue faces less of a problem with concentrations in New York, Boston, South Florida and the Caribbean.
I strongly support free speech, but companies are entitled to enforce limits at work locations and by employees during work hours. There’s a real concern with front line airline employees voicing political positions and aiming those at passengers. The issue is asymmetric speech. Gate agents have passengers removed from flights all the time based on their own judgment. A passenger expressing a contrary opinion would easily be deemed as disruptive. The power here is entirely with the employee taking a position that’s threatening to some of Delta’s customers.
While the company has a right to protect its brand image and forbid this type of “offensive” pin, the mere fact of wearing it is not “hate speech”. It’s NOT speech.
Or perhaps they are just sickened by Israel’s genocide and supporting the killing of innocents including tens of thousands of children and women? Something as a father you should consider vs always having an angle when it comes to posting rubbish against what’s happening and why folks are wearing Palestine’s flag or protesting.
Win, it’s not speech? I suspect the Justices in Tinker v. Des Moines might disagree with you.
What is surprising about this?
Detroit & Minneapolis are 2 of Delta’s hub cities. There are tens of thousands of Palestinian & Somali refugees in both Cities. 2 squad members, Tlaib & Omar represent them in Congress.
When Joe Biden talks about his 2 state solution in 2024, he means Michigan & Minnesota.
You compain about this; you are racist or Islamophobic… Or a Democrat reading the writing on the wall with all of the None of the above Dem voters.
Delta is going to have a big problem sorting this out. Not to mention how their Jewish & Israel supporting flyers feel. But we don’t seem to matter in 2024..
Any individual pin, flag, ribbon, etc is potentially controversial. Does wearing the Israeli flag pin elicit the same concern (support of the ethnic cleansing of the occupied territories)? Does wearing a blue uniform signify that, besides being a Delta employee you are a Crip? Might be simpler if we just got rid of political and religious symbols at work and in the public sphere.
Anyone who thinks a Palestine flag is hate speech is uninformed at best and intentionally creating propaganda at worst. Likening the flag of an oppressed people to a symbol used to oppress people is part of the heinous propaganda machine that got us into the current mess in the first place. And it’s shameful that you (Gary) are claiming that those with a Palestine flag pin are advocating for “cleansing” Jews from the land, which seems like you’re intentionally being untrue here to make things more difficult. No one is advocating for a new genocide of Jews–only those who want to continue Israel’s genocide are saying that’s the argument so they can distract from their own destructive plans. Do better. Honesty and truth-telling matter.
“I strongly support free speech, but” but but but but….
Yeah, sure, that’s what they all say.
@Christian … +1 . The same as we used to do . In fact , it has always been better to NEVER discuss our manager’s stupidity , religious superiority , ethnic food smells , racial stereotypes , bad breath , body odor , or nascar at work . In my military experience , the safest topic was who could drink the most alcohol beverage in a half-hour , and then have a competition to decide the winner .
Frankly, I find the ubiquitous American flag pins way more offensive. They are worn most often by blowhard politicians who after 9/11 wanted to show “support for the troops”. But if you look at their actions, they clearly do not, they only support the defense industry.
I would think that a flag of a beleaguered nation whose humans need all the support they can get would be less offensive. But clearly some people haven’t learned a lesson in humanity.
Also, if you can’t see past a Palestinian flag in Michigan, I got bad news for you.
This is a simple one. Nothing…repeat nothing…should be worn or ever discussed while you are representing the company other than that which is already approved by the company. (i.e. Delta Wing pin; etc.)
You have personal time and a personal life for that. I don’t care what side you’re on or who think is right/wrong. NOTHING while you are representing the company.
At the end of the day, those of us without contracts (and even those with contracts) are ‘at-will’ employees. Don’t like it? Nothing and no one is forcing you to work there.
@Christian + Alert:
Agreed. Anywhere I’ve worked has had guidelines for what pins one may wear, whether uniform or not. Meaning only company issued/approved and a union logo pin if applicable. We had small buttons for pride month or Black history or pink for October, etc. Outside of that, it just opens the door for anything and then that becomes a potential HR or discrimination issue if you’ve got to tell one person they are being offensive but another is not. Easier to just say No.
I’ve only ever worn my seniority pin (and the company issued pink lanyard in October) and the pin signifying I received the President’s Award (which is only the company logo with a diamond, pretty much identical to seniority pin except in gold).
On a United flight this weekend two of the flight attendants had Palestinian flag pins. I don’t think they were Palestinian (speaking Spanish with last names that are very common in central America). But we were going to Colorado so nobody had an issue.
does delta have an employee flair policy?
does any airline have an employee flair policy?
if not, they should
@Jay – free speech under the first amendment is a protection from government, not the right to do as you wish on your employer’s dime
@Ryan – Calling Israel’s military campaign genocide dumbs down that term, “deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.”
Israel has killed many terrorists and civilians both. That is a tragedy. And it is a tragedy *because of Hamas* which hides amongst Palestinians and uses them as human shields.
There are reasonable arguments over the specific military strategy that is being employed, but calling it genocide simply fails to understand what that means. The Palestinian population has grown mightily since 1967.
And while it is POSSIBLE for someone to intend merely to support the creation of a Palestinian state – something that has been offered over and over and rejected by Palestinian Arabs from 1947 onwards – that’s often not what the wearer intends and certainly not how it is frequently perceived (which wearers are well aware of, either intending to communicate that or not caring).
I had naively assumed that these flag pins were helpful as crew bi-lingual ability or as airline destination promotion. Otherwise, for a taxpayer-subsidized public corporation, all these non-corporate-uniform embellishments should be banned.
@Ryan – “No one is advocating for a new genocide of Jews…”
Hamas and many Muslim groups do advocate for a new genocide of Jews. Why don’t you believe them? Maybe you agree with them? Hmmmm?
@Ryan “Anyone who thinks a Palestine flag is hate speech is uninformed at best and intentionally creating propaganda at worst. Likening the flag of an oppressed people to a symbol used to oppress people is part of the heinous propaganda machine that got us into the current mess in the first place. And it’s shameful that you (Gary) are claiming that those with a Palestine flag pin are advocating for “cleansing” Jews from the land”
Hamas, is very literally calling for cleansing Jews from the land. Hamas was ELECTED by Gazans. In a sea of gray with the horror of what is going on….those facts seem….clear.
@Kchoya
Don’t quit your day job as your legal career isn’t very promising. Tinker was about expression at public schools, which has no relevance for a private company’s rules for their own employees.
Delta is of course free to choose a side, or to take no side, and insist that it’s employees do the same. If I were Delta management I would certainly not want my employees antagonizing the many passengers – particularly Jewish passengers – who associate superfluous wearing of the Palestinian Flag with support for the the rapes, murders, and ongoing kidnapping of innocent civilians committed on 10/7 and a signal that the wearer wants to see it again and again . . . that’s likely bad for business (and certainly bad for attracting my business).
Wear Israeli and Palestinian flag pins side by side. Support Israel’s right to exist in peace and Palestinians’ right to not be subjugated and butchered.
@C_M what people like Ryan mean is, calling for and taking in part Genocide against Jewish people is OK, and when hundreds of missiles targeting civilians are shot all over Israel every day, that’s OK. But when Israel tries to defend itself, HOW DARE JEWS NOT DIE QUIETLY! How dare Jews cause even one civilian death, when every war in history had way more civilian casualties (even without Hamas hiding behind human shields) and the Arabs in Syria have killed more Arabs that every war with Israel combined (and no one said boo!) But you are forgetting their “truth”, Palestinians want peace and Israel wants genocide… with people like Ryan, there is no one home to even try to use any intellect….
20,000 French civilians died largely due to Allied bombing during the Battle of Normandy. Half a million, and perhaps more than a million, died in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11.
This is war, it is a tragedy, and it is also because of Hamas.
What you need to state is what reaction you expect Israel to have, if it has the right to exist, besides eradicating terrorists who enter its territory and rape and murder and whose compatriots fire missiles at its people? And when Hamas hides amongst the Palestinian people? Seriously, lay out what response would be both reasonable and possible given the politics and if you’re an American think of U.S. politics following 9/11 when considering your answer.
Mak – your reading comprehension is very poor. I hope your job doesn’t entail the use of that skill.
Read my post again. The original poster said a pin is not speech. I pointed out that Tinker said an armband is speech, therefore.a pin is speech. I made no argument that the Delta employees have a First Amendment right to wear the pin.
Next time, try less snark and more actual thought before you post.
The initial reaction by Israel from the Hamas raid was warranted. Defend your land and show them they f’d around and found out what their actions will result in. But you are incredibly naive if you think these “accidental” bombings and attacks on civilians that keep on happening in Palestine is just an accident. Both sides have their issues. There’s no supporting either.
In 3 days, many people will swap out their Palestinian pins/flags/attire for Pride ones.
And the irony will be lost on all of them.
I do not know the right “reaction” Israel should have to the atrocious actions of the scum sucking Hamas on 10/7, and the continuous and unjust assaults it has faced throughout its history and today, and you don’t really know either @Gary. I do know that killing 30k+, wounding 70k+, and basically starving every other Gazan is not the answer. Nor was killing 1M+ Iraqi and Afghan civilians the answer to 9/11. Perhaps a “war” with Iran might’ve been more “just,” or at least a fairer fight.
Popcorn time:)
P.S – I think Biden is very likely going to lose Michigan. He should have just stuck with supporting the jews and Israel, but instead he’s pandering to the Arabs, and at the end he’s going to both go down in history as abandoning the Jewish people in time of evil, and also lose the election.
Palestine is recognized as a state by well over 100 countries. And whether or not it’s seen as premature by many, even Herzl himself would talk of Palestine as Palestine decades before Israel was recognized as a sovereign nation-state by the world community.
Israel’s ethnic cleaning strategy toward Palestinians under Netanyahu’s rule has ironically grown the list of countries recognizing Palestinian nation-statehood and it has understandably also grown the number of people globally who care about what has happened to Palestinians in the weeks and months since Hamas’s barbarous attack on October 7th was followed by a barbaric, truly Machiavellian response by the Israeli regime.
Israel today is in a pickle of its own making and has ended up pursuing an ethnic cleansing strategy because ethnic cleansing is the way for “Greater Israel” to both:
1) eliminate Hamas (and inappropriately-named “Islamic Jihad”) and such successor from being a thorn “within” for Israelis; and
2) avoid ending up remaining or becoming an apartheid state, a state whereby the trappings of democracy and equal civil rights are excluded for a substantial proportion of people under the state’s rule for the indefinite future.
This ethnic cleansing strategy is the way to consolidate Israel being a democratic Jewish state, and Netanyahu and his strategy supporters know just that and thus are rallying near and far to generate cover to do just that. If people aren’t willing to support a two-state solution on the lands Netanyahu sees as “Greater Israel”, then they are either supporting an ethnic cleansing strategy or are apathetic to the suffering of “the other”. We can all be better than that.
… and, yes, Hamas should surrender and return all the hostages from October 7th and should hav done so long ago. But Netanyahu doesn’t want that. Netanyahu wants several more months to move ahead the ethnic cleansing strategy so as to secure the future of an overwhelming Jewish majority across all of what he sees as “Greater Israel”.
Why would any company, want to upset any customer, like in politics, why piss off 50% of your customers. Having had a company, never let any employee, put on a bumper sticker, just dumb.
There is no such thing as free speech in the workplace. Delta, and others should ban anything outside of their company approved work ware. People are surprised to learn that the Constitution free speech is reserved to those interacting with the Government, not private employers. As long as the restriction applies to all, there is no discrimination.
Let’s see how soon Delta puts in place a JetBlue type revised pin policy for its employees. I would hope they don’t revise the policy, but I expect that Delta will revise the pin policy due to a pressure campaign.
Dude26 doesn’t seem to get that Biden’s been awful at pandering. But awful in a way Dude26 doesn’t understand. Biden panders primarily to the “Israel can do no/little wrong” crowd and yet gets called out as being “bad for Israel” despite giving Israel unprecedented levels of support from the US. Biden fails to pander in any meaningful way to the Arab and Muslim American crowds, but Biden does try to pander to the majority of other Democrats and independents who don’t want the country’s president to support ethnic cleansing but may be willing to buy the myth that “Biden cares about everyone” with some otherwise meaningless talk and gestures about caring about the massive amounts of brutalized Palestinians all these months.
The issue isn’t Palestine. As a retired employer and executive, when at work, employees represent the company, it’s brand, and image. If an employer allows any employees to wear symbols not part of their brand, they must allow all employees to wear symbols regardless of how contreversial. Herein lies the corporate dilemma.
For all customers to feel welcomed, then non-business attire should not be permitted. If a company chooses to allow representation of a specific social, political, or other non-business represntation, then they have to bear the consequences, which include loss of business and lawsuits by employees and/or the public.
Supporting humane treatment for Palestinians does Not mean you support Hamas, or support terrorists. The hostages must be reunited with their families.
It is possible to support the Palestinians and support Israel at the same time.
Supporting Israel also does not mean supporting illegal settlement activities.
There is no such thing as blind support. Peaceful support means ending terrorism and never giving up on the prospect of peace.
As a small business owner businessman or for that matter just businesses in general. Here is my mindset on things whether political or not.
The employee(s) are typically what consumers perceive and deal with first.
The employee(s) work for the company-on-company time and receive a paycheck. They are not there to show or push anything but do the best job they can do for the company. After they are off company time and on their own/personal time they can do, show, push whatever they believe in.
Businesses are entitled to set and enforce work rules to protect their brand/name.
If employee(s) don’t like the rules at their employer, then it’s simple. Start your own company or resign/quit the company.
If your travels take you to Michigan, please consider a premium Delta flight into DTW.
“That isn’t usually what it means”. Oh boy, this copy and paste line from your previous articles? How lazy.
Yawn!
@ Dave Flaat — So you seriously think that the Biden admin is pro-Palestinian? Then why do all of the Palestinian hate him? That is the problem with this whole mess, no matter what position you take, you can’t win. It is absurd. ENOUGH.
For an airline uniform, only those who speak Arabic should wear the pin. If they speak Hebrew, they can wear an Israeli pin.
https://nypost.com/2024/05/29/us-news/driver-tries-to-run-down-kids-outside-nyc-jewish-school-in-possible-hate-crime-attack/
Imagine the tolerance the left would display towards someone who wore an Israeli flag pin.
The Palestinian flag is hate speech? Are you dumb? Seriously, how out of touch are you? I will now go out of my way to wear a Palestinian flag pin.
Iran’s lifetime ruler backs American protestors https://x.com/khamenei_ir/status/1795963798831964411
Gary, as a fellow Jew who respects you, I urge you to reconsider your perspective. Your association between the Palestinian flag and the elimination of Israel is contrived and reflective of your own bias. I’m a Jew — and a proud one — and yet I both despise Israel’s actions in the conflict and support statehood for Palestine. I would happily wear a flag pin in support of the innocents killed and starved in the land that should be recognized as a state by all.
Follow the money. Take it up with the puppet master, not their puppet. Take it up with Iran.
@gary tell us why 500 unarmed Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year where there is no Hamas. Tell us about the 400 Palestinian homes in the West Bank that have been demolished by Israel. tell us about the largest land grab in decades that happened on March 22nd, 2024. Tell us about the settlers in the West Bank who are terrorizing Palestinian men, women, and children in the West Bank where Hamas is not in charge
Whose human shield are they ?
Gary will of course his favoured right whingers talking points but Gary won’t mention how Israel supported Hamas, and killed over 2000 Palestinian children over the last years. As long as Gary’s daughter is safely ensconced in a blue leaning city, Gary doesn’t care
When believing in the existence of a Palestinian people and a two state solution is labeled “anti-Semitic”, what is the implication? The goalposts have moved to the point where the public believes this people’s full extermination is the only politically correct expression? This is insanity. Check your hate
OUTRAGE, particularly when the facts are triggering and don’t fit your personal agenda.
Easy fix. No pins. None. No Palestinian flags, no sports teams, no Black Lives Matter, no White Lives Matter, no Pride flags, not even American flags. A uniform is not where you exercise your right to free speech. Uniform: from the Latin uniformis (having one form). Everyone should be dressed the same with no flair. It’s not a TGI Fridays in 1985.
I do not care if they wear an entire custome of the Palestinian Flag..as long as they do their job properly and efficiently..and most of all shut their mouths and not talk about it! I do not need to hear the Palestinian tragedy blah blah..get me properly checked-in..into the lounge and finally into the plane. So fo what you are paid for! Thank You!
No pins, no crosses, no nothing, except what’s required by law.
We can’t have, nor deserve nice things.
This whole thing, including the post and comments are just… sad.
Continue wearing more and more and more of the Palestine flag pins.
If it offends people, so be it.
I am a hospital employee and I wear Palestine flags to work regularly. I have been doing so for several months now.
The moment my hospital makes an issue out of it, I will look for a different employer. No apologies for supporting the rights of the oppressed.
The day which cannot come too soon: when the supporters of Netanyahu’s war on Palestinians and the supporters of Hamas end their barbaric hatreds toward “the other” and they willingly put on joint Israel-Palestine twin flag pins without any sarcasm or trolling intended.
SAS- I hope you are fired.
Delta- fix this garbage with Palestinian flags or I take my business flights to United or American. I will not be insulted by this crap
In other words get rid of the Palestinians flag pins
Remember the Darfur genocide that has also led to cases in the International Criminal Court? A higher proportion of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank since October 7th 2023 than the proportion of people in Darfur killed during the current century’s War(s) in Darfur that produced the Darfur genocide.
Here is a guy who puts the current century’s genocides in perspective of what has been mentioned as a genocide by some of our officials and even by some of us posting on here over the years:
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/16/gaza-civilian-deaths-genocide
The article is written by an American whose parents emigrated to Israel and who previously worked for US Senator Chuck Schumer of NY. He is neither an antisemite nor anti-Israel. He is a humanist with a modern historical political perspective.
really? You want to review my comments- but you willing to have all those incendiary comments on your blog???
My point is this- if Delta permits this I will take my business class seats elsewhere and I will have my employees fly other carriers.
Seems important that they know this.
“It is possible to wear a Palestinian flag and believe you’re advocating for two states. That isn’t usually what it means. One wears the pin to represent that “from the river to the sea” that Jews will be cleansed from Israel, and the land will belong to Palestinians. At a minimum the frequency with which this message is attached to the symbol means it’s likely to be understood this way.”
@Gary you clearly live in a bubble/echo chamber where this is what you are told, what is reinforced to you, and what you then go and reinforce to others. You need to get out more, and actually engage with people.
StopAntisemitism is not about stopping anti-semitism. It’s an account dedicated to rampant Islamophobia, doxing private individuals who support a Palestinian state, and shaming people and organizations who dare to challenge / refuse to blindly support the government of Israel and its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Again…it’s not about right or wrong. It’s about business. See the comments above from “Texas”. That’s what you risk by allowing personal “statements” within your business.
To put it in a completely non-serious perspective: In the 90’s I worked in a Sports Bar in the NYC area. Our owner carefully ensured that when the Mets and Yankees played each other we had an equal number of staff wearing Yankee or Met jerseys. Why? Because at the end of the day he didn’t want to p*** off fans of either team. At the end of the day…it’s all about the business.
Wear both so you offend no one!
The airline can easily afford to lose this Texas fellow as a customer and a lot of others. Demand is too strong for a boycott by Texas and her/his “Israel can do little/no wrong” crowd to really amount to much financially for AA either way at the current moment. [Not that it will stop the airline from pandering to the “Israel can do no/little wrong” crowd.] But while at it, maybe we can get Bill Ackman to take the charge on this and move forward the date of the policy change.
“Texas” writer seems very easily offended and a supporter of “cancel culture”. Seems “woke”, eh? 😉
I, unquestionably, support Israel in this matter. But I don’t think employees should wear either flag to support either entity as it’s very contentious. Pins and decorations should be limited, I think. Just do your job without making a statement that doesn’t pertain to your work or industry, or country.
I am surprised to see so many Hamas supporting comments here.
“SAS says:
May 30, 2024 at 2:10 am
I am a hospital employee and I wear Palestine flags to work regularly. I have been doing so for several months now.”
Let us know what hospital to avoid would you?
Hamas wildly overplayed their hand. Now the price is being paid. It’s on them.
@J Gross, I don’t see any Hamas supporters here. I only see Human supporting ones that are calling out an atrocity against humanity. Hamas are not humans, they are scum. Palestinians are humans, and they are being butchered.
I just don’t get this. If you work for me, you don’t get to wear anything remotely political in a customer-facing role. I care not whether it is something I support or not. And for those that think this is a first amendment issue, you are truely uninformed.
Have we learned nothing from Disney? Or Bud Light? Distinguished commenters above aside, do we really believe people want a further intrusion of this war (incidentally, started by Hamas) into their lives? Will we then permit Biden or Trump buttons, and if not why not?
I wear Palestine flag. Why should I not wear it? I protest the genocide taking place.
Given how much of the medical infrastructure Israel has destroyed in Gaza and how it has been mistreating Palestinian healthcare workers, all medical workers around the world — including those in Israel — should consider standing united with their profession and professional colleagues in Gaza who are suffering like crazy under this barbaric Israeli regime. Putting on a Palestinian pin is one way to do that respectfully and lawfully at least so far. I stand with the healthcare workers of Gaza. Just like I stood with the healthcare workers of Israel who responded to October 7th with medical care for the victims of that infamous day.
If I were a journalist I would be wearing a Palestinian pin in support of the journalists who have been deliberately targeted in the Israeli-controlled lands by the controlling military power during this barbaric campaign.
GUWonder, you invent shit!
from the holocaust encyclopedia: “”Between 2003 and 2005, an estimated 200,000 civilians died from brutal attacks, disease, and starvation in Darfur. This was the result of a campaign of violence by the Sudanese government. Two million people were displaced from their homes.””
While I believe everyone privately has the right to wear whatever they choose companies need to choose whether that makes sense when dealing with public in a space where individuals are limited in their response. Delta is not a political or government operation. Their personnel should remain neutral at work.
ג’פרי סטרפילד
My comment is accurate regardless of your false characterization of what I said. Or do you not understand English properly at your advanced age and fail to understand the meaning of “proportion” and what the population figures were for Darfur in the relevant years of the genocide there during this century and what they are for Gaza?
It is now to the point that wearing an Israeli flag should indicate that tens of thousands of deaths and increasing starvation of a captive population are acceptable. Wearing a Palestinian flag pin is a recognition and quiet protest against the continuing Israeli atrocities.
I’m a doctor. I’m guessing some posters here wouldn’t have a problem if I wore a Nazi patch on my lab coat. And a “Defund the Police” hat. Personally, I travel or get a cup of coffee or have a meal to relax & escape from the stresses of life, not to have them thrust in my face.
This is not a free speech debate. Folks here showing solidarity with the Palestinians being slaughtered would show the same solidarity with Israelis if the situation was reversed. It is solidarity with humanity. It trumps everything else. Swastika is a Western symbol anti-humanity.
“ One wears the pin to represent that “from the river to the sea” that Jews will be cleansed from Israel, and the land will belong to Palestinians”
One does? Is that why you wear one? Or are you blockading out your a** without any real idea of what it means?
To all of those wearing Palestinian flags, may you rot in Hell. On more than one occasion Israel offered land for peace, but the same people complaining about Israel getting rid of hamas are the people who voted them in and welcomed them with open arms. They are also the same people who strapped bombs on 15 year olds and told them to be martyrs for allah. F–K each and every last one of them and any moron who supports them. They are getting just what they deserve. Normally I would feel bad about children dying, but their parents will only raise them with hatred of Jews and the desire to kill them all, so I have no sadness over the payback they are now getting.
Marc, no one is supporting Hamas here. I urge you to rediscover your humanity.
Neither the Israeli flag nor the Palestinian flag is the Nazi flag. The Nazi flag is not a flag of any state currently recognized by 100 countries or more. Whether you like it or not, both Israel and Palestine are recognized as states today by no less than 100 countries.
Marc’s comment is a lesson in what dehumanization of “the other” is and is a window into how dehumanization of “the other” can even be used to try to justify the killing of innocent civilians and further the dehumanization process that enables further atrocities all while blaming the victims.
Blaming Hamas for the tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and 2+ million Palestinians displaced by the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank is like blaming Israel for the October 7th deaths, rapes, and kidnappings. It’s ridiculous to blame the victims of atrocities for the atrocities — that is unless you have an objective to dehumanize a people and are willing to justify atrocities against a civilian population when done by “the team” against “the opposition” and don’t care about being a hypocrite with the selective application of hostility to terrorism and war crimes such as ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Terry should realize that the medical licensing boards should have an issue with any doctors wearing Nazi pins. The Nazis willfully engaged in medical crimes, and the professional medical licensing boards would typically have an issue with any doctors being explicitly and publicly supportive of crimes against patients under their watch.
The article should be updated: “Spain, Ireland and Norway plus 143 other (over 75% of the UN member states) now recognise the Palestinian state”.
I wouldn’t worry… it’s June tomorrow, time for the transgender inclusive pride flags to be rolled out.
The unfortunate problem with freedom of speech is it applies to both what you want to say, and what you would prefer someone else not have the right to say.
While we’re at it… I’d like to see a clarification on Taiwanese flag pins. I believe the PRC has demanded those removed from cabin crew of Taiwanese origin and been accommodated.
Should simply be wearing their official form of dress for their job. No political or religious statements of any kind. Save that for off duty.
@Andreas-Johann Ø Ulvestad : slippery slope. Manchukuo was recognized by nearly 20 nations; Vichy France by over forty. Government recognition is hardly the final word. There’s still right and wrong.
Gary, re your comments on wearing a Palestine flag, I believe you have gone to far in your support for Israel. Wearing that flag is not, as you say, “The wearing of a Palestinian flag.. a symbol supporting anti-Semitisim and the eradication and genocide of the Jewish people…
something that is unquestionably anti-Jewish, anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli.” Hardly! Many of us support a strong Israel and the right for Palestinians to have a independent homeland as envisioned and agreed in the Oslo Accords as well as the UN 1947 partition. This has been stiffled by many Israeli administrations, in particular by those led by Benjamin Netnyahu and encroachment by decades of settler groups.I have Jewish friends and Arab friends. You make an absolute statement that is in itself an old saw that needs to be put away. I believe Israel will never have peace until they have a peaceful and prosperous Palestinian neighbor. Gary, I admire and enjoy your insightful work and am an avid reader of your column. But these claims you continue to make are not your finest hour.
@JK “Many of us support a strong Israel and the right for Palestinians to have a independent homeland as envisioned and agreed in the Oslo Accords as well as the UN 1947 partition. This has been stiffled by many Israeli administrations, in particular by those led by Benjamin Netnyahu and encroachment by decades of settler groups.”
I wish that Palestinian Arabs had accepted the UN partition. I absolutely supported not just the Oslo Accords but Bill Clinton’s brokered deal, and thes Ehud Olmert deal offering 94% of the West Bank, with pre-1967 buffer zones split in half and a land swap of the balance from pre-1967 borders (involving land Israel acquired for its security after it was invaded).
While Israel would exit small settlements in these areas, their own politics would not allow them to exit Gush Etzion, Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel hence the need for land swap, giving up land near Afula-Tirat Tzvi, Lachish, Har Adar, Judean desert.
The Ehud Olmert offer, developed with the Palestinian Authority over two years, included ceding sovereignty over the holy basin in Jerusalem which includes sites of importance to Muslims, Chritians and Jews – to be jointly administered by a group of nations including the Palestinian state. And they offered an international fund for Palestinians. Palestine would have been precluded from entering into a military agreement with a government that does not recognize Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin was assassinated for offering much less. Yet Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas rejected the deal. Hamas attacked Israel.
And it’s those attacks which took a two-state solution off the table. How can Israeli politics support it, even if the Palestinians would agree? (And they couldn’t agree, Hamas would assassinate them for making peace with the Israelis.)
This is all very depressing! It’s not a state of the world that I wish for! But in any of these discussions, it is dishonest if we do not add “because of Hamas.”
The question now is ‘what do you do’ if you believe that Israel has a right to exist, including not to have terrorists who want to destroy them in their midst? How do you get to a place of Israeli security and Palestinian prosperity? We were almost there, with Clinton and the international community brokering real peace and making big investments – Gaza International Airport was just the beginning with a resort and casino planned even. Then came the Second Intifada to stop it.
Any peace has to begin with an end to terror, with security, and then a two-state solution.
We were not almost there with the Clinton Admin. The “brokered” “deal” was a sham that would make for a Palestinian bantustan arrangement with Palestinian “autonomy” effectively non-existent due to deliberately installed dependencies upon Israel.
Clinton had gotten so fed up in 1993 and 1994 with having annoyed the “Israel can do little/no wrong” crowd that was hitting the White House switchboards like crazy — as Stephanopolous too should recall since he was the one dealing with those numbers. Thereafter, Clinton lost any interest in really pushing Israel for a sovereign Palestinian state and went the other way with trying to placate that crowd via getting closer to Israeli PMOs. Clinton never went back to really wanting to try that same thing of pushing Israeli PMOs. Instead he went for sham after sham to try to secure his political future and that of his family — he wanted to make his family into the new Kennedy family of the Democratic Party.
The Northern Ireland-related accords were actually the honest deal making by the Clinton Admin. But that was because of George Mitchell.
The last Clinton “brokered deal” “for the Palestinians” was a broken deal meant to scam Palestinians longer term. It was impressive with how much detail the Israeli side had managed to think things through and get put in to really screw over the Palestinians longer term with regard to a Palestinian nation-state. Clinton couldn’t have cared less. He just wanted to try to save his legacy and wish to be the next Kennedy family in terms of stature within the Democratic Party.
Why is there no major influx of people into Gaza to support the Palestinians?
If people are defined by their friends, keep in mind that Bill and Don the Con T-rump were buddies in the early 2000s. That speaks to character and how much he should —- not — be trusted for his declarations and actions.
jns should know that the Israelis control the access of outsiders to Gaza. Israel limits or even sabotages the humanitarian aid supply efforts. Sort of the same thing with regard to getting people into Gaza.
Even our all mighty US only was willing to try to put in a sea dock for trickling in humanitarian aid into Gaza if Israel would agree to it.
The Biden Admin is too wimpy.
@jns: Because Israel (maybe also Egypt) will shoot anyone trying to go there.
@Christopher Raehl, you are, of course, joking. After the first ten or twenty thousand westerners being killed, the political price would become too high.
Egypt has had a security cooperation with Israel under which Egypt has largely been doing Israel’s bidding.
I suspect that the Netanyahu regime is playing the game of how to set up the Egyptians between being stuck as the bad guys in shooting to keep Palestinians from fleeing into Egypt from Gaza or just letting in a huge number of Palestinians in from Gaza and helping Israel to depopulate Gaza of a huge proportion of Palestinians from Gaza. Or the Egyptians doing both.