Israeli Flight Attendant Sues Delta Over Discrimination And Antisemitism

NEW YORK (VINnews) — An Israeli flight attendant working at Delta Airlines filed a law suit in New York, claiming that the company had “engaged in a pattern of intentionally discriminating and retaliating against ethnically Jewish and/or Israeli employees based upon their race and ancestry,” and had “intentionally retaliated against the Plaintiff because he engaged in protected whistleblower activities,” according to a Ynet report.

According to court records, after the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 last year, Roey Segev, who has been employed as a flight attended with the airline as of 2019, and 44 other Israeli members of Delta’s staff told the airline management that they felt unsafe at work after four staffers who expressed public support for Hamas and called for the destruction of Israel in social media posts were kept on by the airline.

The Israelis claimed that this was in clear violation of company policy regarding staff posts. In response, they were told that the matter was under review and that appropriate action has been taken, although no details were provided. According to Segev’s filings to the court, the four Hamas supporters are still employed and no disciplinary actions against them have been taken.

Segev also described an uncomfortable incident during a flight from Tel Aviv to New York in which the cabin crew manager behaved disrespectfully toward Israeli passengers and referred to them in a conversation with Segev as “your people.”

The flight attendant was then asked to spend less time with Hebrew speaking passengers – which is part of his job as a bilingual member of staff – and was criticized for the time spent serving the Israelis rather than the rest of the passengers on board.

Segev stressed in his complaint that the manager retaliated against him for the “waste of time” without cause, and did not allow him to take an (authorized) break during the flight.

In another incident a female flight attended confronted Segev and another Israeli member of the crew, claiming they did not assist in her cleaning the bathroom. Segev said the two tried to help after they had completed their work but her conduct toward them and the Jewish passengers on the flight was “intolerable.” He said she shouted and made accusations while other non-Jewish members of staff did not receive similar treatment.

Segev reported the incidents to the management at Delta Airlines but claims he did not receive a response and his complaints were not addressed. He was instead, summoned to a virtual hearing and was accused of improper conduct during previous flights. He denied the “baseless” accusations and said he was shocked and upset and said he had never received any complaints until he alerted the company to the discriminatory behavior toward him as a Jewish member of staff.

Segev added that he was shown a video clip, allegedly of himself, sitting in a passenger’s seat over and over again for three hours, but he denied that it was him. He later learned that another Israeli flight attendant has also been accused of misconduct on the same flight and was also shown video recordings alleging she had been watching clips on her phone, although her identity too could not be verified.

Segev also claimed he warned of serious security breaches on flights. In May, a passenger violently accosted an Israeli flight attendant on a flight from Tel Aviv to New York. He said he and Israeli colleagues were left to deal with the passenger on their own, at risk to their lives and the flight, in contrast to regulations, did not make an emergency landing and continued on its way.

In another instance the Delta aircraft stood on the runway for over two hours at temperatures of over 46°c (115°f) while passengers and crew passed out and were in need of medical attention. He said Delta later failed to even provide the crew with rooms for the night as promised and they were left waiting for hours in a hotel lobby after the airline failed to book rooms for them.

“Until I complained about antisemitism, there was no problem but once I spoke out, everything changed,” Segev said. He asked not to be assigned to flights on the Tel Aviv-New York flights and suffered financially as a result.

According to his suit, he suffered emotional distress, was humiliated and embarrassed and those feelings remain to this day. He demanded compensation for his suffering and financial losses.

Segev also asked for punitive damages that would deter Delta Airlines from similar behavior in future. In his complaint, Segev stressed that the actions of the airline were out of malice or complete and reckless disregard of his legal rights.

“While we haven’t been served with a complaint and wouldn’t comment directly on pending litigation, Delta has zero tolerance for discrimination of any form in our workplace, ” Delta said in response to Ynet’s request for comment.

Last July Delta said the airline would prohibit the display of flag pins on their flight attendants’ uniforms following harsh criticism it received after flight attendants wore a pin with a Palestinian flag. The airline has annouced that it will not continue flights to Israel before April 2025, amid security concerns.