SWC Calls For Apology From Ryanair Over ‘Palestine’ Announcement on Flight to Tel Aviv

June 14, 2023

In a letter to the CEO of Ryanair, Eddie Wilson, SWC Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, called on the airline carrier to apologize “over a recent incident on a flight from Italy to Tel Aviv, where a Ryanair flight attendant repeatedly announced, in both Italian and English, that the plane would be landing in ‘Palestine,’ instead of its correct location, the State of Israel.”

Following these inappropriate announcements, passengers aboard the flight asked for a correction or an apology, which reportedly, was refused.

Rabbi Cooper urged Mr. Wilson “to investigate this incident and to quickly issue an apology to the airline passengers insulted by a false narrative by an employee of Ryanair. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but not to alternative facts.”

View letter to Ryanair CEO here

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).