Delta is entering into a partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines through its SkyTeam Alliance, beginning next year. Delta planes don’t actually fly there, but Delta customers will be riding on Saudi Arabian through an interline agreement.
A lot of people have made a big deal about this saying that Delta would comply with Saudi requirements regarding who can arrive in the country, which could lead to the exclusion of Jews.
IMHO this is really idiotic. The Saudi government only allows in non-Saudis who have a visa. To get a visa you need to apply with the Saudi government. The Saudi government will not issue a visa to anyone who has an Israeli visa stamp in their passport nor to anyone who they think is Jewish. No airline can fly you to Saudi Arabia without a visa, agreement with Saudi Arabian Airways or not. In fact, today, you can fly on Continental through Frankfurt to Saudi Arabia and on American Airlines through London to Saudi Arabia. The problem is with the Saudi Arabian government not with Delta.
The Wall Street Journal seems to agree with me Blame Saudi Arabia, not Delta, for Policy on Jews
2 comments:
You are correct on the facts. Our complaint should be with the US Government that allows this anti-semitic discrimination to go on. When Czarist Russia treated Jewish American citizens differently than non-Jewish citizens the US President threatened commercial retaliation--and the disparate treatment was ended. Saudi Arabian Airlines is a govt owned entity. The US should respond by revoking its landing rights in the US and asking our allies to do the same.
The problem isn't who is actually excluding Jews from Saudi Arabia, it's that Delta should have not formed an alliance with a racist, exclusionary government even if it could point out its arm-length distance from those odious policies.
As for the comparison with Czarist Russia, Arabia has oil which the US didn't need so much back then.
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