IT STARTED with a flickering of paranoia in the mind of one Jewish passenger; perhaps justifiable, given the recent surge of terrorist attacks in Israel; perhaps prejudicial, emblematic of the deep distrust between Arabs and Jews, who both see a homeland in the Holy Land. It ended with two entirely innocent customers being hauled off a commercial flight, and with senior Palestinian officials accusing their Greek counterparts of reviving "the worst years of the South African apartheid".
The debacle unfolded on a routine Aegean Airlines flight from Athens to Tel Aviv. Before the aircraft could take off, an "initially small group" of Israeli Jews "vocally and persistently" demanded that two Arab passengers undergo additional checks—purportedly because they were acting suspiciously. The pilot called airport security to verify the suspects' travel documents, no doubt reluctantly, aware that word-of-mouth alone had condemned them. Both men were given the all-clear, but not before paranoia swept through the cabin, compelling dozens of bystanders to conclude that the unexpected...Continue reading
Source: Business and finance http://ift.tt/1SQfQJG
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