It's no secret that Saudi Arabia bars passengers with Jewish sounding last names and any passport with an Israeli stamp from its flights. It's therefore inexplicable why Delta Airlines would partner with Saudi Arabian Airlines knowing that the partnership would, at best, passively endorse Saudi Arabia's anti-Semitic policies. Even more bizarre is the defense Delta offered of the practice once the story of the partnership broke. International airlines, it said, "are required to comply with all applicable laws governing entry into every country... Visa requirements or other possible government travel restrictions to enter any country are dictated by that nation's government, not the national airlines or foreign carriers. These requirements apply to anyone entering the country either by land, air or sea."
Aha. So Delta isn't barring Jews from entering Saudi Arabia. They can't be faulted for Saudi policies.
But would Delta have said the same thing had they partnered with, say, South African Airways at the height of apartheid had there been a requirement for black passengers to sit near the toilet in the back of the aircraft? Would they have said, "Sorry, this isn't our regulation, it's our partner's." I suspect not. They would probably have never risked a partnership that would have passively endorsed racist policies and subjected the airline to international condemnation.
Which leads to the larger question of why Saudi Arabia is always treated differently. Where is the outrage over the only country in the entire world that doesn't allow women to drive a car or that publicly flogs women for being alone in a room with a man they are not married to, as recently happened to a woman in her seventies who committed the sin of allowing a delivery man into her house? This is pure barbarity, yet the West continues to overlook it due to Saudi wealth and our own gluttony for oil. In essence, we have allowed our morals to drown in an ocean of crude.
Islamic scholars have confirmed that there is nothing in the Koran that bars a woman from driving and at least two of the prophet's wives are known to have ridden camels, the four-wheel drive of its time. Yet, when Manal al-Sharif posted a video of herself driving this past May she was locked up for nine days.
This extreme gender apartheid led in turn to the recent, widely-covered protests on the part of several Saudi women to publicly drive and challenge the authoritarian Wahhabi regime, pleading with Hillary Clinton to speak out on their behalf. But the most our Secretary of State could muster was a bland and non-committal statement: "What these women are doing is brave, and what they are seeking is right." You don't say. But hey, at least the statement is a start.
But while the world applauds the rise of the Arab Spring and the sprouting of the innate desire on the part of Arab brothers and sisters to live and breathe free, there is at best token American and European pressure on the Saudis to come in from the dark ages and treat women like fully-fledged human beings. The absence of leading feminist voices regularly and unrelentingly condemning the Saudis for their brutal treatment of women is particularly dispiriting.
But hey, even feminists need to fill up and so long as the Saudis prove useful in pumping up our gas-guzzling SUV's, it seems that the American people will continue to remain silent and more American businesses will continue to sell their souls.
Follow Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RabbiShmuley
Rabbi Jason Miller: An Analysis of the Delta-Saudi Controversy
Things that make you go "hmmm"...
Thank you for making my decision to fly with other airlines that much easier.
The allegations against Delta and Saudi Arabia in this blog have been widely discredited.
Please name the PR firm that disputes this fact?
It is sad that well into the 21st century an American company as Delta will comply with this social sickness erased - at least formally - from much of the liberal democratic world.
Rabbi you are going down an intersting path, boycotts, something I imagine you usually find yourself opposed to
To Boycott Saudi Arabia is a hard one. They are so intertwined into our government (they are a US proxy regime) and corporations that depending on how far you want to take it you would have to stop comsuming an awful lot of stuff.
Personally I think the easiier option is to demand that the US taxpayers directly stop funding the regime that makes the rules, not the companies that live within those rules. But its an approach. Many say it worked in south africa. Although It is one of those situations that opens you up to the question of why don't you boycott the United States since it is our money keeping these rules in place.
Perhaps there could be some sort of arrangement that Israelis are interrogated, searched, and detained in a like manner - with extensive background checks to make sure they are not Mossad agents heading out on another Dubai-style mission using faked passports
Sheesh.
They enjoy the wealth from oil and shop at expensive shops in Europe and US and live lavish life styles in secret. So their women can't drive but have drivers. This is not a regular country but an enterprise at work. It's just a hub of all things Islam and oil.
Since you took the time to research, compose and post this article...did you also do research into what people and corporations own stock in Delta?
Do you know what the reaction from Jewish funds/investments groups has been?
And what exactly are Jewish funds/investment groups anyway? Are they similar to Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian investment groups?
I've been there - you're not missing much.
"Women considering relocating to Saudi Arabia should be keenly aware that women and children residing in Saudi Arabia as members of a Saudi household (including adult women married to Saudi men, adult women who are the unmarried daughters of Saudi fathers, and boys under the age of 21 who are the sons of Saudi fathers) are considered household property and require the permission of the Saudi male head of their household to leave the country. "
"unmarried daughters of Saudi fathers, and boys under the age of 21 are considered household property"
Just sayin'