Delta Airlines sparks uproar with Palestine flag pin tweet

Calls to boycott Atlanta-based Delta Airlines are growing louder following the company's mismanagement of recent Palestine-related controversies.

These include Delta's handling of flight attendants wearing Palestinian flag pins and customers wearing pro-Palestinian clothing. Earlier this week, an irate customer sent a message to Delta on X, complaining about some flight attendants who wore tiny Palestinian flag pins on their uniforms.

The customer likened the pins to "Hamas badges," saying: "Since 2001 we take our shoes off in every airport because a terrorist attack in US soil. Now imagine getting into a @Delta flight and seeing workers with Hamas badges in the air. What do you do?"

Delta's customer service responded promptly, saying "We hear you as I'd be terrified as well, personally. Our employees reflect our culture and we do not take it lightly when our policy is not being followed."

The response sparked a huge outcry on social media, prompting boycott calls and demands for apologies. Delta deleted the tweet, but a screenshot continues to circulate on social media.

“These airlines won’t learn until you stop giving them business,” American Islamic scholar Omar Suleiman wrote on X, adding the hashtag “BoycottDelta."

Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on Delta to apologise for the “racist anti-Palestinian tweet" and urged the company to educate its employees about such racism.

Delta apology

In a statement to TRT World, a spokesperson said the company apologises for the message on X.

“Delta removed a mistakenly posted comment on X Tuesday because it was not in line with our values and our mission to connect the world. The team member responsible for the post has been counselled and no longer supports Delta’s social channels. We apologize for this error.”

The spokesperson did not respond to questions about the fate of the flight attendants wearing the flag pins.

But on social media, one of the flight attendants who wore a Palestine flag pin said he had not been fired, contrary to reports.

Customer crackdown

Also this week, a Delta customer spoke out about his harrowing experience on a May flight from Sao Paolo to Chicago.

Louie Siegel, an anti-Zionist Jewish-American, said he was told to cover up his t-shirt, which said “Not in Our Name” on the front side and “Jews Say Ceasefire Now” on the back.

Speaking to US-based news outlet Truthout, Siegel said the chief flight attendant told him that Delta had a policy against showcasing political messages of any kind. If he refused to cover up his shirt, he would be kicked off the flight.

Siegel briefly covered up his shirt, but once in the air, he displayed it again. At this point, Delta employees threatened to have him arrested per the captain's orders.

"I believe that what happened on the plane was an attempt to police a public expression of an anti-Zionist Jewish identity," Siegel told Truthout. "I present this case to illustrate how far corporate America and its allies will go to suppress the burgeoning antiwar movement that seeks to stop the genocide of the Palestinian people."

He added that the incident was another example of the fight in his community over the "Jewish soul." And he viewed what happened as an opportunity to educate everyday Americans about the difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.

Widespread discrimination

Delta isn't the only airline that has recently policed expressions of Palestinian solidarity.

In May, JetBlue Airways banned a Jewish passenger who complained about a flight attendant wearing a Palestine pin, but then updated its uniform policy to ban pins they have not approved.

And in November, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from New York City to Phoenix, Arizona, was told to take off or reverse his "Palestine: sweater or face removal from the plane by law enforcement.