Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

Delta’s newest agreement with Saudi Arabia has been one of the more explosive (pardon the pun!) stories to hit the airwaves in recent years. Now, in partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines, Delta Airlines has made a deal—no Jews, Bibles, crosses are allowed to be on board whenever Delta destined flight is flying over the Saudi Arabian airspace—even if the Jewish passengers remain on-board in transit.

I can just imagine hearing, “Ladies and Gentlemen, as we are now approaching Saudi Arabia, our Captain has turned on the no Jews light . . .”

Delta executives claim that they are merely following the laws of the country and their right to determine which citizens it wishes to accept into their country. Thus, “If a passenger travels without proper documents, the passenger may be denied entry into that country and our airline may be fined. Delta assumes responsibility for ensuring that each passenger boarding our aircraft has the proper documents for travel to their ticketed destination.”

I also wonder what Delta would say if the host country said, “We don’t allow homosexuals, or Negroes in our country.” Would Delta say, “Sure, that’s fine with us!” What if the KKK wanted to exclude blacks on their flight to Crackerville, what would Delta say?

How would the gay and lesbian communities react? What would Afro-Americans say if such a policy was in force by Delta?

What if a foreign government said, “We welcome everyone except for Hispanics!” Would Delta say, “We will gladly comply with your rules . . .”?

What about if someone said, “All Asians are banned from our flight . . .,” what then?

At what point does a corporation say, “Enough is enough already. We prefer to keep you out of our partnership until you decide to become more tolerant toward other ethnic and religious groups”? Plain and simple, isn’t it? It seems that Delta has doing business in Saudi Arabia for decades, why not tell the Saudis, “We do not wish for you to be a part of our SkyTeam for now . . .”

The more I was thinking about this development, the thought occurred to m that this material is really suitable for Saturday Night Live. I wondered, “What is Delta going to do if someone in the middle of the flight announces, ‘My Saudi brothers and sisters, I AM JEW!” ? Are they going to throw the Jew off the plane?’” Perhaps we can look to the singer Ella Fitzgerald for some inspiration:

I can just imagine the Saudi and Delta authorities during mid-flight singing in unison,

We’re going to throw that Jew right out of our air

We’re going to throw that Jew right out of our air,

and send him on his way . . .

What might Borat or Eminem sing?

Of course, there are other ridiculous scenarios for the Saudi and Delta corporations to consider: Jews for the last forty years have been debating, “Who is a Jew?” Maybe the Saudis along with Delta might want to apply the Adolf Hitler standard for determining Jewish identity—even someone who had quarter-blood of Jewish ancestry, would be qualified to be Jewish enough for the gas-chambers.

Racism is pretty ugly when it affects you, but decent people won’t allow it to happen, because the next time-the target might be YOU!

I wonder whether Delta is the only airlines with this policy or not. Should they alone be singled out? United Airlines appears to have a similar policy. While one can object to the Saudi policy, Delta’s willingness to overlook this position is disturbing. Delta and presumably United are nonetheless happy to continue to do business with the Kingdom-and that is why these companies ought to take a second look at their own corporate policy.

It all boils down to ethics.

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Postscript: The reporting of news is so bad today, it’s hard to believe in almost anything that has allegedly taken place. Srill and all, Saudi Arabia has never been a model nation for others to emulate. Apparently the Saudi Arabian story and the Delta Airlines has finally clarified their position. It reads: