By COLlive reporter
In a video conference with Berlin Shliach and Chief Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr today apologized for the recent antisemitic incident at Lufthansa.
Spohr said during the call that they have spoken to crew members and witnesses to find out exactly what happened, and they certainly apologize for the incident.
The disturbing incident in which all visibly Jewish passengers were not allowed to board a connecting flight while flying from Germany to Hungary was reported by Dan’s Deals. In an absolutely shocking exchange filmed with one of the Jewish passengers, a flight crew member can be heard saying, “It was Jewish people who made problems. Jewish people coming from JFK.”
On Tuesday, a statement released by Lufthansa said it “regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude passengers” from the flight.
During the call on Wednesday, Spohr told Rabbi Tiechtal, “Antisemitism has no place at Lufthansa. The actions last Wednesday should not have happened like this and must now be fully clarified,” Spohr told Rabbi Teichtal. “Lufthansa stands for connecting people, cultures and nations. Openness and tolerance are the cornerstones and there is no place for antisemitism,” he said.
“If an employee in Lufthansa uniform acts wrongly, concerns and accusations of antisemitism are quite legitimate,” says Rabbi Teichtal. “More sensitivity may be expected from a German corporation. I am pleased that the CEO of Lufthansa reacted so quickly, took a clear position, and apologized.”
During the call, both the CEO and Rabbi Teichtal said it was important to both participants not to reduce Lufthansa and its employees to the antisemitic incident.
“A joint awareness training for Lufthansa will have to follow this apology,” Rabbi Teichtal said.
Big fines, Big!
Not ‘Training’ but Big Fines.
People learn from pain.
Lawsuits! Sue their pants off! Every Jew on that flight should become a millionaire
I agree, I’m sick and tired of having to work for a living.
I agree 100%
Apologize to the passengers, not some rabbi in Germany!!
Exactly! It’s a very nice gesture to apologize to the rabbi, but it’s still passive-aggressive anti-Semitism: don’t lump us altogether just because we all look the same, like religious Jews! That’s exactly what the Lufthansa agents did at the airport and by apologizing to the rabbi – and not to each individual Jew who was affected – furthers the idea that we can all be collectively punished and collectively apologized-to. Better instead to apologize to each and every individual – the rabbi (I’m sure is a great person) does not speak for and represent each separate individual.
Lufthansa has still never acknowledged that they were guilty of anti-Semitism.
Never apologized for saying it was one group etc… the list can go on and on.
This only makes the issue worse by us (Chabad) showing that the airline can get away with what happened only because the CEO spoke to a Rabbi.
So to you it might seem like there will be no justice now because of this talk. However, if the rabbi wouldn’t have spoken to him, let’s be honest, there would have been nothing at all.
What do we need their apologies for exactly? They’re only doing it for themselves
It would be most appropriate that Lufthansa admits that there was anti-semitism displayed in the behavior of the workers and dismiss them immediately.
There is a very big difference between the words “sorry” and “apology” or “apologise.” In contrast to “sorry,” the word “apology” is an ambiguous term. It could either imply that the person is “sorry” or the exact opposite-I.e. the person tries to defend and justify their position. Whenever, one hears a politician, a bureaucrat or big corporate executive/CEO “apologize” and dafka use that word, then they need to take that “apology” with a big grain of salt
Lufthansa knows exactly who these passengers were.
Why not simply come to New York, invite the passengers to a Brooklyn or WB venue and apologize and draw a picture of what consequences Lufthansa will take?
Dan lekaf z’chus: it’s not a bad first step to talk to 2 German rabbis. But that’s what it only is: a first step. This surely cannot be all!
By the way: calling a German police-officer a Nazi is such a Chilul H”. My gosh too embarrassing. Subsequently that officer’s response wasn’t smart either.
every passenger bared from flight s should receive full payment for their losses
otherwise the apology isworth zero
All passengers should be compensated financially.
Saying SORRY is nothing
I’m sure there was a “but” in the apology, and as we all know, anything that comes after “but” is what the speaker really means.
90 years on, and it’s still with us.