An Israeli flight attendant working at Delta Airlines filed a law suit in New York claiming the company "engaged in a pattern of intentionally discriminating and retaliating against ethnically Jewish and/or Israeli employees based upon their race and ancestry," and "intentionally retaliated against Plaintiff because he engaged in protected whistleblower activities."
According to court filings, after the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 last year, Roey Segev who has been employed as a flight attendant with the airline as of 2019, and 44 other Israeli members of Delta's staff told the airline management that they felt unsafe at work after four staffers who expressed support for Hamas publicly, and called for the destruction of Israel in social media posts, were kept on.
The Israelis claimed management was in clear violation of company policy regarding staff posts and in response they were told that the matter was under review and that appropriate action has been taken, although no details were provided. According to Segev's filings to the court, the four are still employed and no disciplinary actions against them were taken.
Roey Segev began working for Delta at its base at New York's JFK airport as part of the airline's international crew and was pleased with his job. But in January 2023 things began to change.
Segev described incidents during a flight from Tel Aviv to New York in which the cabin crew manager was behaving disrespectfully toward Israeli passengers and referred to them in a conversation with Segev as "your people."
The flight attendant was then asked to spend less time with Hebrew-speaking passengers – which is part of his job as a bi-lingual member of staff – and was criticized for the time spent serving the Israelis rather than the rest of the passengers on board.
Segev said in his complaint that the manager retaliated against him for the "waste of time" and without cause, did not allow him to take a break during the flight.
In another incident a female flight attended confronted Segev and another Israeli member of the crew, claiming they did not assist her during the shift. Segev said the two tried to help after they had completed their work but her conduct toward them and the Jewish passengers on the flight was "intolerable." He said she shouted and made accusations while other non-Jewish members of staff did not receive similar treatment.
Segev reported the incidents to the management at Delta Airlines but claims he did not receive a response and his complaints were not addressed. He was instead, summoned to a virtual hearing and was accused of improper conduct during previous flights. He denied the "baseless" accusations, said he was shocked and upset and said he had never received any complaints until he alerted the company to the discriminatory behavior toward him as a Jewish member of staff.
He said he was shown a video clip allegedly of himself sitting in a passenger's seat, over and over again for three hours, but said that was not him. He later learned another Israeli flight attendant was also accused of misconduct on the same flight and was also shown video recordings alleging she had been watching clips on her phone, although her identity too could not be verified.
Segev also claimed he warned of serious security breaches on flights. In May a passenger violently accosted and Israeli flight attended on a flight from Tel Aviv to New York. He said he and Israeli colleagues were left to deal with the passenger on their own, at risk to their lives and the flight, in contrast to regulations, did not make an emergency landing and continued on its way.
In another instance the Delta aircraft stood on the runway for over two hours at temperatures of over 46°C (115°F) while passengers and crew passed out and were in need of medical attention. He said Delta later failed to provide the crew with rooms for the night as promised and they were left waiting for hours in a hotel lobby after the airline failed to book rooms for them.
"Until I complained about antisemitism, there was no problem but once I spoke out, everything changed," Segev said. He asked not to be assigned to flights on the Tel Aviv-New York route and suffered financially as a result.
According to his complaint he suffered emotional distress, was humiliated and embarrassed, and those feeling remain to this day. He is demanding compensation for his suffering and his financial losses.
Pro-Palestine protesters at New York's Columbia University
(Michael Lubash)
Segev also seeks punitive damages that would deter Delta Airlines from similar behavior in future, as well as costs. In his complaint, Segev claimed that the actions of the airline were out of malice or complete and reckless disregard of his legal rights.
“While we haven’t been served with a complaint and wouldn’t comment directly on pending litigation, Delta has zero tolerance for discrimination of any form in our workplace, " Delta said in response to Ynet's request for comment.
In July, Delta said the airline would prohibit the display of flag pins on their flight attendants’ uniforms following harsh criticism it received after flight attendants wore a pin with a Palestinian flag.
The airline said it would not return flights to Israel before April 2025, amid security concerns.
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