Why did 57 Israeli and Jewish passengers sue United Airlines?  

United Airlines is facing a lawsuit from 57 passengers, Israelis and Jews, who allege anti-Semitism on the part of the crew who carried the flight they were on two years ago, as reported by Ynet.

The flight in question, which the lawsuit addressed, took place in April 2023. The plane, which departed one Saturday night from Newark Airport near New York, in the direction of Israel, turned around about three hours after takeoff and landed back in the United States.

The official reason for the return of the plane, according to the crew, was "inappropriate behavior" by one of the Israeli passengers, who, according to the crew on the flight, spoke "badly" to the crew members. The passenger was arrested after the plane landed.

One of the passengers on the flight, Shlomit, told Ynet after landing what happened from her point of view. One of the passengers went to the bathroom, but because the toilet was occupied, he sat down on a seat of one of the flight attendants near the cabin and waited. The flight attendant noticed this and started yelling at him. This quickly escalated into a shouting battle between the two.

However, according to her, it did not end there. The flight attendants threatened the passenger at this point that they would return the flight, and that is indeed what happened. In order to update the passengers.

As mentioned, 57 Jewish passengers who were on the flight joined forces to file a lawsuit against the airline, which they filed in a Manhattan court. They claim that the return of the flight back to the United States was for no justifiable reason, and accuse the flight crew of racism and discriminatory treatment of Jews. Their lawyer, Yoram Nakhimovsky, is demanding damages as well as training for anti-discrimination teams.

The airline refuted the allegations and denied them. In an official response to Ynet, the company said: "We have investigated the incident, and the plaintiffs' claims are baseless. One passenger, who was a safety risk, caused the flight to be returned to Newark. Our team put safety first and acted professionally in managing the situation. We will defend ourselves firmly against these false accusations."