German court dismisses appeal against Kuwaiti Airways discriminatory policy
A German court in Frankfurt on Tuesday rejected an appeal by an Israeli passenger barred from boarding a Kuwait Airways flight because of the airline’s strict policy of banning all Israelis. The case had been brought by the Israeli, represented by The Lawfare Project, after he booked a flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok in 2016, but wasn’t allowed to take his seat because of a Kuwaiti law that bans all citizens and companies from doing any business with citizens of the Jewish state.
The Frankfurt court found in favor of the airline last year, prompting outrage in Germany and the Israeli, a Frankfurt based student, appealed, with support from The Lawfare Project. However, the High Court of Hesse upheld last year’s ruling in favor of the airline, dismissing the claim on the basis that the execution of the contract is impossible. Although the written verdict
is yet to be published, in a hearing on September 6th, the court made clear that it shared the view of Nathan Gelbart, German counsel of The Lawfare Project acting for the Israeli plaintiff, that this Kuwaiti law must not be applied in Germany as it contradicts important German values, including the value of friendship towards the State of Israel.
Paradoxically, however, the court also expressed doubts that in the event of a verdict against Kuwait Airways, the verdict would be respected and practicably fulfilled for factual reasons. Factually, the court said, the Israeli client would not be able to leave the first plane after it landed in Kuwait, because even the transit area of the airport is under the territorial integrity of Kuwait. Put simply, the court seems to have dismissed the claim because of the anti-Semitic reality that would prevent an Israeli leaving the plane when it stopped in Kuwait.
As a result, attention will now turn to the political fall-out of this decision. As the courts have as
yet been unable to challenge Kuwait Airways’ flagrantly discriminatory policy, it falls on
politicians to intervene to hold the airline to account.
Earlier this year, Acting Minister of Transport, Christian Schmidt, wrote to the Kuwaiti Minister of Labor, Economics and Social Affairs, Hind Al-Sabeeh, regarding what he called the “disconcerting” policy of Kuwait Airways. It is “fundamentally unacceptable to exclude citizens because of their nationality,” wrote Schmidt. Since last year’s verdict three regional parliaments in Germany – Bayern, Hessen and Nordrhein- Westfalen – passed resolutions condemning Kuwait Airways for its racist policy. — From the Lawfare Project.
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American Jewish Committee greets world leaders with advertisement critiquing UN Human Rights Council
In a full-page ad in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) called on world leaders to end the structural bias against Israel at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“The singular and decades-long focus on Israel has undermined the noble UN mission,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “In the case of human rights, this obsession with Israel has tragically served to ignore or sideline the plight of countless genuine victims of abuse by governments rarely, if ever, condemned, by the Human Rights Council.”
The AJC ad, “How the UN Human Rights Council Divides the World,” appears as presidents, prime ministers, and other top leaders from around the world have gathered for the first day of the UN General Assembly general debate.
The ad graphically lines up 192 UN member states on the left-hand side of the page and Israel alone on the right-hand side. This stark division is exactly how Israel is treated in the UN system, especially at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.
Astonishingly, and defying all logic and truth, the Council has issued far more condemnations of Israel, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, than of any of the other 192 UN member states.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, quoted in the AJC ad, has emphasized this discrimination at the Human Rights Council. “No other country – not Iran, not Syria, not North Korea – has an agenda item devoted solely to it. Agenda Item 7 is not directed at anything Israel does. It is directed at the very existence of Israel,” Ambassador Haley has declared.
“The UN has defaulted on its founding commitment to the ‘sovereign equality’ of all member states,” states the AJC ad, which provides a link to www.UNjustUN.org, detailing how Israel is shamefully treated differently than all other UN member states and to take action.
AJC has been involved with the UN since the founding conference, in San Francisco, in 1945. Historians credit AJC leaders with having successfully advocated for the inclusion of human rights protections in the UN Charter.
In a unique annual tradition since 1991, AJC is meeting privately with more than 70 presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers currently attending the opening of this year’s UN General Assembly. — From American Jewish Committee
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AJWS criticizes State Department report on Rohingya genocide
American Jewish World Service issued the following statement on Tuesday:
“More than a year after horrific and violent attacks by the Burmese military began on the Rohingya people, American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is gravely disappointed that the U.S. State Department failed to name the international crimes committed against the Rohingya people as the heinous acts that they are—genocide or crimes against humanity. With the lives of hundreds of thousands from the Rohingya community in the balance, it is unfortunate that the U.S. State Department report did not indicate any U.S. leadership, propose an action or define a path toward meaningful accountability and redress for the Rohingya people.
“Given the report’s lack of direction to resolve this crisis and achieve justice, the U.S. government must follow up on this important U.S. State Department report with strong sanctions—like those called for in the stalled Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act—and additional high-level Global Magnitsky designations for the Burmese military officials responsible for the violence.
“The U.S. must now use this report to take bold action both unilaterally and with the broader international community. Having gathered the evidence outlined in this report, the U.S. now bears the responsibility to advocate for the use of international justice mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, which are essential to achieving the justice that the Rohingya people need. The U.S. and its international partners must take concrete actions to ensure the Rohingya can return home in peace and security.
“This report, as unsatisfactory as it is, still confirms what we already know from the powerful United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission and other reports from international human rights organizations released in previous months, highlighting that the violence against the Rohingya people was ‘extreme, large-scale, widespread’ and ‘well-planned.’ The horrifying actions by the Burmese military described in this report must trigger meaningful U.S. action.
“As a Jewish organization cognizant of the horrific crimes committed against the Jewish people during the 1930s and 1940s, we know the cost and consequences when powerful states fail to act in the face of the most horrendous crimes known to humanity. The U.S. must lead its international peers in working to resolve this crisis and end impunity, particularly as world leaders gather this week at the United Nations General Assembly.
“As the leading global Jewish human rights organization and a long-term supporter of human rights for all ethnic minorities in Burma, including the Rohingya people, we insist that the world make good on the promise of ‘Never Again’ by following the evidence and acting swiftly and decisively.” — From American Jewish World Service
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$1.5 million will finance study on Jewish educators’ career paths
CASJE (The Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education) on Tuesday announced the launch of a major project supported by the William Davidson Foundation and the Jim Joseph Foundation for comprehensive research on the pipeline and “career arc” of educators working in Jewish education. The two-year project is supported by generous grants totaling $1.5 million from both foundations, and will yield findings to be shared broadly with the field of Jewish education and engagement.
The research will be overseen by CASJE and will be conducted initially by Rosov Consulting in three linked studies. First, researchers will study the career plans of people currently in the settings from which Jewish educators have tended to come, such as summer camps, longer-term programs in Israel, and college fellowships. The second study will involve a comprehensive mapping of those who work in the field of Jewish education today to understand why they stay in the field and how they grow. The third component will focus on problems faced by employers and training providers coping with personnel shortages and/or saturation.
“CASJE’s unique approach combines planning strategies and research programs that reveal insights through systematic and applied research,” says Stacie Cherner, Senior Program Officer at the Jim Joseph Foundation. “Moreover, with organizations such as Leading Edge and JPro already doing important work in many of these research areas, CASJE is positioned to deliver much-needed comprehensive quantitative and qualitative findings. Together, stakeholders in the field can then review this work to make sense of people’s experiences and choices at different stages of their careers.” — From The Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education
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Preceding culled from news releases. Send yours to editor@sdjewishworld.com