Once again, anarchist supporters continue to cross red lines. Passengers on El Al flight 007 to New York received an unexpected political message from their pilot, Doron Ginzburg, on Yom Hashoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Using English worse than Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s, the pilot delivered his anarchist-fueled rant to the passengers over the loudspeaker, declaring, “Reminding all of us that things like [the] Holocaust are potentially to be occurring in a dictatorship, and we are fighting in Israel to remain a democratic country. Thank you all and have a nice flight.”
El Al released the following statement in response [translated]:
“The El Al company condemns political statements of any kind, by any of its people as part of their work, and certainly not on its planes, which cannot be a platform for this type of activity. The company orders to avoid this, especially on such a sensitive and significant day for the people of Israel. This exceptional case, which does not reflect the people and values of the company, will be thoroughly examined by the senior officials of the company.
El Al is the airline that carries the Israeli flag on the tail of its planes, and as such reflects the entire Israeli mosaic.”
A senior official in the Ministry of Transportation responded [translated]:
“Time after time the pilots behave as if they are the owners of the house.
This reality cannot continue, something bad is happening there and after the minister spoke with the company’s management, she expects the company to act accordingly and respect being the national company.
Maybe the flight paths are clear, but apparently the direction of the company is getting lost.”
Not such friendly skies after all. But perhaps the passengers should simply be grateful the stewardesses didn’t dress up like handmaids.
Update: The pilot apologized to the passengers before the flight landed. El Al called him in for a hearing when he landed.
