A Jewish Rabbi was denied boarding for a Kenya Airways flight from Johannesburg to Nairobi. He’s told it’s because he appeared visibly Jewish. The rest of his travel party is permitted to travel: “You can travel, he can travel, he can travel.”
When asked if it’s because of how the rabbi looks? “That’s it, it’s not good.”
Jews being denied boarding @KenyaAirways flight – for being Jews!! My good friend Rabbi Wagner was disbarred from this flight “because of the way he looks…. It’s not good”… WOW!!
Way to go Kanye – I mean Kenya….This happened just now at the Oliver Thambo airport in… pic.twitter.com/7dwyzioJH4
— Chaim Danzinger | Rostov Rabbi (@RostovRabbi) February 5, 2025
Update: the original video of the incident was removed, but is available here:
Kenya Airways employee refused to allow a Rabbi to board a flight leaving Johannesburg because he was visibly Jewish.
Yes, really.
— The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) February 6, 2025
Kenya Airways responded this morning on Twitter, saying that “the group was behaving disruptively and appeared to be intoxicated.” That is certainly not clear from the video. The airline says that since some members of the group were allowed to travel, it must not have been about their being Jewish. However the staffer suggests it is the visibly Jewish attire that not all were wearing that is the issue. Developing!
We would like to address a video circulating on social media that alleges guests were denied boarding solely based on their appearance and religion. We want to assure everyone that this is not the case. The facts are as follows:
Our team in Johannesburg observed a group causing… https://t.co/GIjxrByrH4
— Kenya Airways (@KenyaAirways) February 6, 2025
Last year, Lufthansa was fined $4 million for targeting Jewish passengers. In a 2022 incident, the airline banned Jews off of a New York JFK – Frankfurt flight from continued travel for a 24 hour period, after some passengers on board didn’t comply with mask rules and other crewmember instructions. Non-Jews violating mask rules weren’t prevented from taking their connections. And the ban included passengers who could be identified as likely Jewish, even if they hadn’t broken any rules. The German flag explained at the time ‘it’s Jews that caused problems, so it’s Jews who couldn’t travel.’
Hardly an uncommon viewpoint! A year ago British Airways removed a Jewish sitcom from its inflight entertainment because it was Jewish, saying they didn’t wish to take sides between Israel and Hamas, even though the sitcom had nothing to do with conflict (it simply had Jewish characters set in Israel).
I reached out to Kenya Airways for comment on Wednesday and will update if they respond. They did not respond to my inquiry, which came within minutes of the original video being shared. However I’ve added their public response to the post.
That’s a real shame — Now, where are all the fools to say ‘leave politics out of Wing’ or whatever nonsense. Fellas, life is politics. Wake up!
🙁
Does Lufthansa have an ownership stake in Kenya?
Not a good look indeed (for Kenya Airways). Bummed to keep reading about incidents like this, although I’m glad in the digital age incidents like this are more readily exposed so we can call them out.
“Shower thought”: Does anyone see a future world where airline employees are mandated to start wearing body cams?
@L737 — Yeah, I’m not so sure about Kenya Airways. Have not tried them personally, but friends who have were significantly delayed a few times (so, maybe some operational issues). KQ operates nonstops from JFK-NBO and is SkyTeam–but, I’ve gone with KLM via AMS. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for stroopwafel and Delft Blue houses (gift for business class on long-haul routes).
On the body cams idea, I sure hope not because that’s quite invasive; though, we should recognize that our personal privacy is already limited in such spaces. It’s a balance, for sure.
Kenya Airways: “the group was behaving disruptively and appeared to be intoxicated.”
What? The Rabbi? He looked pretty calm and peaceful to me.
I’ve seen many things at an airport, but I’ve never seen a drunk ultra-orthodox rabbi at an airport.
I have seen various “security” dragons claim people are drunk when they are not just because the staff wants to deny them passage (or entrance into say a restaurant/bar/club/store), but never seen this kind of thing hit an elderly ultra-orthodox type guy at an airport.
This “you’re drunk/disruptive/aggressive” card has been used repeatedly in some parts for racists to keep out visible minorities whom they dislike.