Delta Still Sucks But They Have Company

"Mr. Cohen, please report to the flight attendant"

WASHINGTON  The Saudi Arabian embassy on Friday (June 24) denied as "completely false" reports that U.S. Jews would not be able to travel to Saudi Arabia under Delta Air Line's planned partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines.  They did sing a different tune regarding Israeli Jews, however, as Israeli Jews have passports from Israel, which is not recognized as a country by Saudi Arabia, which is not recognized as civilized by normal people in the western world. The Saudi government take their cues from the holy koran, Mohammad's 7th Century war manual.

U.S. Jewish groups had criticized Delta for next year's planned addition of the Saudi airline to the SkyTeam network, a 14-member Amsterdam-based global alliance of air carriers.  It seems that, for some inexplicable reason, the Holocaust and the Muslim involvement with Hitler's "Final Solution" still upsets many Jews and they just will not let it go. The fact that the Islamic world continues to issue fatwas and attempts to kill them wherever they can find them, may have something to do with the Jewish anger that still persists.

Some Jews and conservative activists were concerned that the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islamic law would prevent Jews from traveling to Saudi Arabia from the U.S., and criticized Delta for the partnership set to launch in 2012. Sharia, or Islamic law, sees Jews as inferior to Muslims, but why Jews are so upset is difficult to ascertain--Christians, gays, women, and other nonbelievers are no better than Jews as far as Islam is concerned, so why is it that Jews are the most upset? Oh wait, it's that Hitler-mufti thing again, I bet.

"Rumors being circulated via the Internet regarding passenger flight restrictions on Saudi Arabian Airlines are completely false," the embassy statement said. "The government of Saudi Arabia does not deny visas to U.S. citizens based on their religion."  Only Israelis based on theirs.
 

In a statement on Thursday, Delta indicated its agreement with the Saudi airline would be limited: no selling Delta seats on a different airline, or other reciprocal benefit like sharing frequent flier miles. Perhaps, if the Saudis can convince Delta management, there will be no kosher meals served either.

"Delta Air Lines does not discriminate nor do we condone discrimination against any of our customers in regards to age, race, nationality, religion or gender," the Delta statement said, "except for Israelis and the Yarmulka'd in general.

At the same time, however, Delta did not deny concerns about Jews' or Israelis' ability to travel to Saudi Arabia. "Yeah, that's too bad, isn't it?" one Delta anti-Semite said.

"It's important to realize that visa requirements to enter any country are dictated by that nation's government, not the airlines, and they apply to anyone entering the country regardless of whether it's by plane, bus or train," a Delta spokesman wrote on the company's blog. "And let's face it; they're down for some big bucks with us so we gotta give a little to get a lot, you know what I'm sayin'?"

The conservative American Center for Law and Justice, founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, had said it was investigating concerns that the deal would restrict Americans' religious expression when traveling on Delta or connecting to the Saudi airline. You don't want to mess with Pat Robertson--he knows big people, if you know what I mean.

U.S. and international Jewish groups criticized Delta for entering into a partnership with the Saudi airline, but many liberal Democrats do not have a problem with it, nor do they have a problem with Obama's '67 borders suicide plan for Israel. 

"Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, should be strongly condemned for its despicable discrimination against Jews," said Kenneth Bandler, a spokesman for the New York-based American Jewish Committee, on Thursday. "Feh," he added.

"For an American company, our nation's values should trump narrow business interests. Delta should be the first to reject Saudi Airlines as a SkyTeam member." Mr. Bandler is obviously a Republican and will definitely not be voting for Obama in 2012.

In a Friday letter to Delta CEO Richard H. Anderson, the Anti-Defamation League's Abraham Foxman warned the airline about being a complicit partner in the kingdom's strict version of Islamic law, which prohibits non-Islamic articles of faith such as Bibles or a Jewish yarmulke, leaving our Rosary beads, Hindu prayer beads, crosses, crucifixes, Gitas, Miraculous medals, Saint Anthony pins, tfillin, and other items of non-Islamic faith.

"We expect Delta, and any other American airline which flies to Riyadh or partners with an airline that flies there, to ensure that its passengers -- whatever their faith -- not be discriminated against," Foxman said, "and that no American airline in any way enable, or facilitate this discrimination, whatever the regulations of Saudi Arabia."

It is uncertain what it was that Mr. Foxman was smoking when he made that statement, because we will see the skies blackened with flying chickens before we seeYarmulkes in Saudi Arabia.  So I do not take back my original story on Delta. They may allow American Jews to fly their friendly anti-Semitic skies, but I'm not sure they would be so kind if the flight didn't originate in the land of the free and the home of the brave.  What is also clear is that there are other airlines who have also partnered with the Saudis but they hadn't received the same amount of publicity as Delta, but they are just as culpable.

Can you boycott them all? Probably not.  But you may want to let them know how you feel about the fact that they seem to have no problem working with a country who is so intolerant of other religions. It seems like the Jews have made the biggest case against the Saudis, but the truth is, Islam and Sharia is an equal opportunity hater--Christians and other non-Muslim groups are also not viewed as equal to Muslims by Islamic law. 

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