Jewish teen traumatised by airline clerk’s accusations

A young Jewish woman, Sarah*, flying to Israel from South Africa on 11 August was left traumatised when a clerk at the Ethiopian Airlines (EA) check-in desk allegedly accused her of going to Israel to join the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

He also allegedly took photos of her passport with his personal phone, and demanded to see proof of a return flight from Israel to prove that she wasn’t travelling there to join the army.

The family of the 18-year-old woman has asked to remain anonymous for fear of negative reprisals following the disturbing incident. The family are originally South African, however Sarah was born in Australia. She had travelled from Australia to Israel to do a 10-month youth programme for Australians and South Africans.

Then, this month, she came to South Africa for a week to celebrate her grandfather’s 90th birthday with her extended family. But when she arrived for her early-morning flight back to Tel Aviv to rejoin her programme, she encountered an aggressive response at the check-in counter.

Ethiopian Air Country Manager Bisrat Tedla told the SA Jewish Report that EA values its close relationship with the South African Jewish community, and that such an incident is unacceptable.

“The clerk accused my daughter of being Israeli and hiding this fact,” says Sarah’s father. “He asked her where her Israeli passport was, and pressured her to ‘confess’ that she was going to Israel to join the military.” Sarah was flying on her Australian passport, and is not in any way Israeli.

“I truly believe that if we didn’t have proof of a return flight to Melbourne, he wouldn’t have allowed her to get on that plane,” says her dad. “I must add that Sarah has dark hair and an olive complexion, and the clerk may have assumed she was Israeli on that basis.”

The family maintains that the clerk demanded to see that Sarah had a future flight out of Israel to prove that she wasn’t going there permanently to join the IDF. Sarah became increasingly distressed, messaging her dad for help. Eventually, airport staff allowed him to join his daughter at the check-in counter.

“I hadn’t planned to book Sarah’s return flight yet as she wasn’t sure if she was going to travel more in Israel or elsewhere after the programme,” says her father. “However, I recently saw a good deal on a return ticket to Melbourne, and booked it. Because of that stroke of luck, we were able to prove to the employee that Sarah wasn’t going to Israel permanently, and he finally let her board the flight.”

Sarah’s father was highly disturbed to see the employee take photos of his daughter’s passport with his personal cellphone, knowing that these photos could now be posted on social media and shared far and wide.

However, because the situation felt so tenuous and the clerk was so aggressive, he decided not to question it at the counter. He plans to raise the entire incident with the airline after he returns to Australia.

After a week of such simcha and joy, he said, it broke his heart to see his daughter attacked because of her religion, and the fact that it left her shaken and tearful. Instead of sending his daughter back to Israel in high spirits, they had to part ways under deeply unsettling circumstances.

“We have made a preliminary investigation, but what has been done is procedural,” says Tedla. “If we get additional information, particularly substantiated with evidence that can prove differently, we will further investigate and take appropriate corrective action.”

EA’s lead customer services representative, Meshech Soobramoney, conducted the investigation. “We had a one-to-one engagement with the staff member who performed the check-in-process for the said pax [passenger],” he said.

“The agent confirmed that he asked the passenger normal profiling questions per the standard because she was travelling using an Australian passport, for example, ‘What is the purpose of your travel? For how long? Do you have an ETA [estimated time of arrival]?’

“He remembered that she told him that her travel purpose was to participate on a religious programme,” said Soobramoney. “After that, he asked her to show him her ETA and her return ticket as per the destination country requirement. She provided him [with these] from her phone, and for our records, he took a picture of her return ticket from her phone and continued the check-in process.

“As per standard profiling procedures, any foreign national passenger travelling to a country that is not their residence is required to provide a return or onward ticket based on international regulations,” said Soobramoney. “This indicates that if you aren’t an Israeli passport holder, as a traveller of a different nationality, you are required to have a return/onward ticket if you do not reside in the country. This was the scenario that transpired on the date, and he confirmed that the passenger was asked no other questions.”

South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) spokesperson, Rolene Marks, says the SAZF is “deeply concerned by reports of discriminatory treatment of a young Jewish traveller at OR Tambo International Airport. No passenger should be subjected to intimidation, unfounded accusations, or inappropriate demands by airline staff.

“Such incidents not only cause unnecessary distress, they raise serious questions about professional conduct and respect for travellers’ rights,” she says. “We call on Ethiopian Airlines and airport authorities to take steps to ensure that all passengers are treated with dignity, fairness, and without prejudice.”

* not her real name.