Insider reported previously that Orthodox Jewish girls were prohibited from board a Delta flight on Thursday.The girls were redirected to a Delta flight the next day for trying to change seats.Insider was told by their rabbi that he believes antisemitism is in play.10 Things in Tech: Keep up-to-date with the latest tech trends and innovations. Loading... Click to sign up for Insider marketing emails. You also agree to receive partner offers.According to their Rabbi, a group of Orthodox Jewish girls were prevented from boarding a flight from Amsterdam into New York on Thursday night. They were then allowed to board another Delta Air Lines flight that day.Insider reported that the 18 teens were part of a group of teenagers who had been to religious sites in Ukraine. They were initially denied travel on a Delta flight back to their home country due to a dispute about COVID-19 protocols on the KLM leg of their journey.In an interview with Insider, Rabbi Yisroel Kashan stated that Delta had allegedly kicked off the girls for sharing seats on Friday morning flights.Kahan accused Delta in antisemitism. He said, "Antisemitism is when a duck looks and sounds like a duck."Read on: The private-jet designer for $250 million shares his job description.Kahan stated that after the girls were barred from board the flight on Thursday night, Kahan and a chaperone attempted to arrange their return journeys.While their Rabbi tried to arrange another flight, the Orthodox Jewish teenagers slept at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Yisroel KahanKahan stated that he called New York legislators, including Sen. Chuck Schumer to ask for help.According to the Rabbi, Schumer intervened and Delta executives called the parents of the girls who were left behind and made arrangements for a Delta flight from Amsterdam, New York, on Friday morning.Insider reached Schumer but did not respond immediately to our request for comment.The girls boarded the Delta flight from Amsterdam to New York on Friday morning. However, Kahan stated that the girls were asked to depart shortly thereafter. He said, "Ten minutes later the phone rings." "They're being taken from the plane."According to the rabbi, one of the girls was asked by a mother to swap seats with her son. He said that the stewardess rushed to the girl after they had made the swap and told her, "You're misbehaving, your kind of on thin air, to start with, get off this plane."Insider has seen a video that shows a woman confirm that she requested to change seats. This led to the girls being asked for their departure.Kahan stated that although the girl was able to return to her seat, Kahan claimed that the whole group of teenagers were told to get off the plane. According to Kahan, the woman was allowed on board the plane as it was her first transgression.According to the rabbi, he believes that these incidents are antisemitic even though he doesn't like to "throw out that card".Kahan said, "Either I'm telling you that you know that each one of them was violating both rules on both flights." "Or, you tell me that you have banned an entire group, one of each ethnicity, from this behavior."They were taken away and booked on a Delta flight later that day, but they declined to fly because it would have meant returning to their homes after Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.Instead, they spent the night at Antwerp, Belgium and returned to New York on Sunday morning with United Airlines.Insider received an email from Delta stating that they had to apologize to customers of Delta Flight 47, Amsterdam-New York-JFK. The spokesperson stated: "We are sorry to those passengers on Delta Flight 47 Amsterdam-New York-JFK who were delayed and inconvenienced by crew instructions to remove a group who refused to follow them." The flight took off approximately two hours later than its original scheduled time.
