Israeli Journalist Claims Discrimination When Asked To Move On Flight, True Story Emerged Later

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In another example of apparently false disparaging of charedi travellers, an Israeli female journalist complained Tuesday that she had been asked to move from her seat because charedi men wished to sit together and not next to a woman.

The journalist, Neria Kraus of Israel’s Channel 13, published a picture of the charedim who were sitting there and claimed that they were “trying to move me from place to place because I’m a woman.” Kraus also complained that the United Airlines staff were not doing anything to help her and told her that the flight was delayed because of her.

In reality, the charedi person involved is a well-known Baal Chesed from Brooklyn who would never dream of asking a woman to move because of her gender. The person in question was interviewed by Daniel Amram on arrival in Brooklyn and explained that his son had simply wished to sit next to his friend and had asked the journalist who was sitting in an aisle seat if she could move to another aisle seat so that he could talk with his friend. Initially Kraus was willing to listen but when the man took of his cap and she saw that he was wearing a Kippah, she started yelling and screaming about the discrimination.

“I asked her to move so that my son’s friend could sit next to him and she just freaked out, I told her politely ‘If you don’t want you don’t have to move.’ the man said.

A stewardess came over to Kraus and told her that if there was discrimination on the flight, the entire flight would be cancelled.

While Kraus’s version of events could have theoretically occurred, the fact that she refused to release a video clip, instead simply publishing a picture of the charedim, harms the veracity of her version.

טוב גבירותיי ורבותיי כתבת חדשות 13 נריה קראוס סיפרה אתמול ש״חרדים רצו שהיא תעבור מקום בטיסה בגלל שהיא אישה״, היא צילמה את האדם הזה שהוא בעל משפחה ואדם מאד מוכר בברוקלין, הציוץ שלה הגיע למעל מליון צפיות וגם להחברים שלו שנדהמו ופנו אליי במשך כל היום, ״אין סיכוי, הבן אדם הזה מארח… pic.twitter.com/KkC4M1aYKP

— daniel amram – דניאל עמרם (@danielamram3) August 16, 2023

After Amram published the interview with the other traveller, several responders asked Kraus to apologize for her behavior, but to date she has not offered any retraction.