1 week Ago By Trevin Christian Casinader
A Jewish American flight attendant employed by Delta Air Lines is suing the airline, claiming that he was the victim of antisemitic discrimination and retaliation. The safety of Jewish employees compromised? Roey Segeva, a Florida native employed as a flight attendant by Delta Air Lines , alleges that the airline has "engaged in a pattern of intentionally discriminating and retaliating against ethically Jewish and Israeli employees.” According to Aviation A2Z , Segev alleges that Delta compromised the safety of its Jewish employees by knowingly employing individuals who support Hamas and outlined that four of his fellow flight attendants harbored hatred and animosity towards Israel and have managed to retain their positions despite this.
Following Hamas' attack on Israel in October 2023, Segev alleges that several Delta flight attendants displayed support for Hamas on social media in direct violation of Delta's policies. However, the lawsuit says that these staff members have not been let go and are actively working at the airline. Segev is employed as a bilingual crew member who speaks both Hebrew and English.
As a result, he often flies to Tel Aviv, Israel. He has been at Delta since 2019 and claims he has been content at work until an incident in January last year. After that, Segev alleges that there have been multiple instances of discrimination towards him and other Jewish staff members, all of which the airline has failed to rectify or take action against.
On January 15th, 2023, the purser on a Tel Aviv to New York City flight acted "demonstrably antisemitic" by referring to the passenger onboard as “your people” and reprimanding Segev for speaking Hebrew with the passengers. Segev supposedly complained to Delta, but the airline failed to respond. In another incident down the line on the same route, Segev and another Jewish Israeli flight attendant were left to handle an allegedly violent passenger.
According to the lawsuit, the crew didn’t follow the usual procedure and divert to offload the passenger. The airline didn’t offer an explanation for the deviation in procedure. It must be noted that there is no confirmation that these incidents have occurred.
They are simply being reported, as stated in the lawsuit. Simple Flying has contacted Delta Air Lines to request a statement regarding the allegations. Another discrimination lawsuit In September, another Jewish flight attendant, Sasi Sheva, filed a discrimination lawsuit against the airline.
According to the lawsuit, Delta Air Lines refused his requests for time off to observe Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish religious calendar. The Encino native has been employed at the airline for two and a half years and is based in New York. He added that the airline served him a ham sandwich after rejecting his request to pick up vegetarian food from the airport before the flight.
According to the lawsuit filed by Sheva, the airline has multiple complaints regarding the antisemitic treatment of employees and has outlined similar legal challenges regarding discrimination by other staff. In July this year, Delta gained attention after it changed its uniform policy to ban Palestine flag pins after a flight attendant displayed a pin on their uniform. When the employee displayed the pin, it wasn’t against any airline regulations.
However, there was a large amount of public backlash, which resulted in the airline caving to the pressure and updating the uniform policy. Plenty of miles are on offer..
