Delta airline under fire after linking staff wearing Palestine badges with Hamas

Delta Air Lines has come under fierce criticism and boycott calls after appearing to link two of its flight attendants wearing badges of the Palestine flag with Hamas. 

During a flight that reportedly took place on Friday between Boston and West Palm Beach in Florida, a member of the cabin crew was pictured with the pin.

The campaign group StopAntisemitism first posted an image of a flight attendant on X, formerly Twitter, writing: “Hey @Delta - did you add Palestine as a new summer route?,” as well as a screengrab of what appeared to be the flight attendant’s Instagram account.

It posted a picture of a second Delta staff member with a Palestine flag pin a few days later, telling the airline that she was "causing a stir".

On Tuesday, another X post referencing the two flight attendants, read: “Since 2001, we take our shoes off in every airport because [of] a terrorist attack in US soil. Now imagine getting into a @Delta flight and seeing workers with Hamas badges in the air. What do you do?”

Delta replied on its official X account, in a post that it appeared to endorse the false claim that the Palestine flag was a “Hamas badge”.

“I hear you and I’d be terrified as well, personally. Our employees reflect our culture and we do not take it lightly when our policy is not being followed,” the company wrote. 

delta just deleted their reply where they said they’re “terrified” by the pаlestinian flag btw pic.twitter.com/h3UDuKwJXY

— Hurt CoPain (@SaeedDiCaprio) July 10, 2024

“Nothing to worry, this is being investigated already, particularly the involved parties,” it added in another reply.

Both posts have since been deleted. 

Several commentators and campaigners have called for the airline to be boycotted over its handling of the matter. 

No more flying @delta from me unless they apologise for this vile attack against their own employees for wearing the flag of a country recognised by the vast majority of the world https://t.co/sdHRPYkMS2

— Bruno Maçães (@MacaesBruno) July 10, 2024

“These airlines won’t learn until you stop giving them business,” wrote Muslim scholar Omar Suleiman, with the hashtag “BoycottDelta”. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on Delta to apologise for the post on X appearing to link the badges with Hamas, calling it a “racist anti-Palestinian tweet”. 

“Whether this racist post on Delta’s X account was approved or unauthorized, Delta must apologize and take steps to educate its employees about this type of dangerous anti-Palestinian racism,” CAIR’s Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement. 

hey @delta can you address the tweet you just quietly deleted where someone on your team claimed they would be terrified to see a flight attendant wearing a palestinian flagpin? or are you just hoping people wouldnt notice and stop talking about it? https://t.co/BcqxNCmFrY

— zach silberberg (@zachsilberberg) July 10, 2024

Yonah Lieberman, the co-founder of Jewish American campaign group IfNotNow, said that Delta was legitimising the “racist and disgusting smear that the Palestinian flag is a hate symbol”. 

Middle East Eye reached out to Delta for comment, and they confirmed that they had "removed a mistakenly posted comment on X Tuesday because it was not in line with our values and our mission to connect the world."

"The team member responsible for the post has been counseled and no longer supports Delta’s social channels. We apologize for this error," Delta told MEE.

It’s not the first controversy surrounding the airline in relation to Israel's war on Gaza. 

US news site Truthout reported this week that a Jewish activist was ordered by Delta staff to cover up a T-shirt that read “Jews say ceasefire now” during a flight in May. 

Campaigner Louie Siegel said flight attendants told him the T-shirt went against the airline's policy against showcasing political messages of any kind. 

Delta has previously come under criticism over alleged discrimination, particularly against Muslims. 

In 2020, it was fined $50,000 by the US transport department for ordering Muslim passengers off planes despite its own security officials clearing them to travel. 

In one incident, in July 2016, a Muslim couple were removed after a passenger complained that their behaviour made her “uncomfortable and nervous”. 

The passenger said that one of them used the word “Allah” several times while texting on a cellphone. Delta then refused to allow the couple to reboard a flight.