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By Nick Reynolds
Senior Reporter, Politics
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Ryanair apologized after a crew member on a recent international flight said the Israeli city of Tel Aviv was located in "Palestine."
Outrage ensued on the flight from Italy to Tel Aviv after a flight attendant announced the destination of the flight as "Palestine" in English and Italian, according to media reports. After passengers reportedly attempted to get the flight attendant to correct herself, she refused and accused passengers of endangering the safety of the flight.
To the flight's Jewish passengers, the incident was a major transgression. Tel Aviv is the financial and technological center of Israel, and many international embassies are stationed there—an extension of the long-standing international dispute over the status of the city of Jerusalem.
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In December 2017, President Donald Trump announced his intention to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, which he called the real Israeli capital, a move that at the time was criticized by Palestinian leaders and pro-Palestinian groups. The move went into effect on May 14, 2018.
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Tel Aviv has long been contested by those favoring Palestinian independence, laying ancestral claims to the region dating back well before a group of Jewish families settled there in the early-20th century. Any claims that contested territory belongs to the Palestinians is seen by many as an attempted erasure of Israel's sovereignty.
Critics of the incident responded similarly following news of what occurred on the flight.
"I'm sure you know that there has never been nor is there now a distinct Arab country called Palestine," Larry Shapiro, a columnist for the Jewish Press, wrote in an open letter to company CEO Michael O'Leary after the incident. "So your flight attendant imbued with passionate hatred of Israel retendering her incapable of actually saying the word Israel resorted to insulting Ryanair's Jewish passengers."
"If @RyanAir considers Tel Aviv to be in Palestine then perhaps they should only do business with the Palestinian Authority," an account belonging to the pro-Israeli Simon Weisenthal Center wrote on Twitter. "Israel and Israelis can make their own way to and from the Jewish state."
Ryanair said it regrets the incident.
"A junior crew member on this flight from Bologna to Tel Aviv [10 June] made a routine descent PA mistakenly saying 'Palestine' instead of 'Tel Aviv,'" the airline told Newsweek. "This was an innocent mistake with no intent and was immediately corrected and apologized for by the senior crew member on board."
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