Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 3, 2021

As the U.S. surpassed 220,000 COVID-19 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance about wearing masks while traveling. USA TODAY

Jewish groupsaccused Frontier Airlines of anti-Semitism after the carrier canceleda Sunday flight from Miami to New York overa clash with a group of Hasidic Jewish travelers related to mask compliance.

TheOrthodox Jewish Public Affairs Councilaccused the Frontier cabin crew of "bigotedbehavior." The airline said the passengers were deplaned because of a "continued refusal to comply with the federal mask mandate."

TheOJPAC, which shared video of the incident on Twitter, said the dispute arose because crew members ordered a Hasidic Jewish couple to deplane because their 18-month-old child didn't have a mask. Children under 2 are exempt from the federal transportation mask mandate.

The group accused the crew of applauding, exchanging high-fives and congratulating oneanother as the passengers left the plane. OJPAC said an Orthodox Jewish person defended the couple, and theirextended family who were masked began leaving the plane,"at which point Frontier ordered everyone off the plane."

Frontier disputed that narrative on Twitteras well as in a statement to USA TODAY.

"On Feb. 28, while Flight 2878 from Miami to New York-La Guardia was preparing to leave the gate, a large group of passengers repeatedly refused to comply with the U.S. governments federal mask mandate," spokesperson Jennifer de la Cruz told USA TODAY in an email. "Multiple people, including several adults, were asked repeatedly to wear their masks and refused to do so. Based on the continued refusal to comply with the federal mask mandate, refusal to disembark the aircraft and aggression towards the flight crew, local law enforcement was engaged. The flight was ultimately canceled."

The airline tweetedSunday, "Repeated requests to comply with federal law necessitated their removal from the flight. The issue did not stem from a child under 2."

"Some people in that 'group'are not even family related," OJPAC fired backafter seeing Frontier's tweet. "They are grouped together as Hasidim."

According to Chabad.org, Hasidim is the plural term for Hasid, a Jewish person who is devoted to "studying, contemplating, and internalizing Hasidic teachings."

Hasidim has been appropriated as acatch-all term used by outsiders todescribe several different Jewish sects based on their attire and other common practices.

OJPAC called out Frontier for not addressing allegations by people on board about the crew's attitude toward the passengers.

Monday, the Anti-Defamation League New York/New Jerseycalled for a "full and transparent investigation."

When asked about the allegations of anti-Semitism,de la Cruz said, "We review every situation where a passenger has to be removed from a flight."

Though some Hasidic groups in New York have clashed with officials over COVID-19 precautionssuch as wearing masks, that was not the case on the Frontier flight,Hasidic passengerMartin Joseph told The New York Times.

Were law-abiding citizens," he told the newspaper.We have small children. We understand that the mask has to be worn, and everybody has to wear a mask, and thats the law. We comply one million percent.

Contributing: Ryan Miller, USA TODAY; Joseph Spector and Jon Campbell, New York State Team

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Frontier Airlines accused of anti-Semitism after canceling flight over mask controversy - USA TODAY

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