‘Degrading Treatment’: Israeli Travelers at London’s Heathrow Airport Harassed Over Israeli Flag: Report

Travelers on an El Al flight to Tel Aviv faced harassment after checking-in at London’s Heathrow Airport by local customs officials, following an uptick in antisemitic incidents with Jewish travelers in the wake of Hamas’s October 7^th massacres.

According to UK Lawyers for Israel, the airport officials – who were seen by passengers sporting lanyards with Palestinian symbols including a watermelon – selected all Israeli passengers for extra screening after seeing an Israeli flag in a passenger’s bag.

The watermelon symbol became a symbol for Palestinian terrorism and resistance. After the Six Day War, Israeli officials banned the display of the Palestinian flag, and as an act of resistance beginning in 1980s Ramallah, the watermelon was adopted as a symbol by the Palestinian movement because it shares similar colors to the Palestinian flag. Recently, the watermelon symbol has become a mainstay in college campuses and pro-Palestinian protests.

“The people responsible for making sure terrorists don’t blow up airplanes were wearing badges that identify with terrorists,” said a passenger on the flight.

In response to the antisemitic incident, UK Lawyers for Israel filed a complaint to Heathrow Airport alleging a violation of the Equality Act of 2010 which protects against discrimination and harassment. According to a spokesperson for the group, “It is obvious that if staff wear these badges it would make most Jewish, Israeli, and Israel supporting passengers feel uncomfortable and unsafe, particularly in the area of security checking at Heathrow.”

UK Lawyers for Israel decried Heathrow Airport’s “degrading treatment [of El Al passengers] simply because they are Jewish”

In another recent incident at Heathrow Airport, passengers deplaning an El Al flight were placed in a special screening line at customs and received extra scrutiny for arriving from the Jewish state. According to a passenger, who asked a customs official why Israeli and Jewish travelers were singled out for extra screening, the official responded, “I am a customs officer and I can do whatever I want.”

A spokesperson for Heathrow commented to The Standard, ““Everyone should feel safe and welcome at Heathrow. We have guidance on what colleagues can wear at work, if that guidance is not followed, we will ensure those items are removed immediately, as was the case in this instance.”

Globally, Jewish travelers have faced an uptick in antisemitic incidents with border officials since October 7^th. In Australia, border authorities “intervened” to question three Jewish travelers who had departed “for Israel after October 7^th” and were suspected of serving in the IDF, according to a press release from Australia’s Department of Home Affairs. There is no Australian law forbidding its citizens from serving in the IDF.

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