A video surfaced online late last week depicting soccer fans singing anti-Semitic chants at a Jewish man on a Ryanair flight.
The footage, which began circulating on social media last week, showed fans of the London-based club West Ham United on a plane to Belgium consuming alcohol and chanting anti-Semitic slurs to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish passenger as he was making his way to his seat. The man did not respond to his detractors.
The plane departed from London Stansted to Brussels on Thursday and was full of West Ham fans as the English Premier League side was playing Genk in a Europa League match outside of the Belgium capital.
The chants are typically sung at fans of London rivals Tottenham Hotspur as an insult and reference to the club’s affiliation with the city’s Jewish community.
The incident was met with apathy from flight attendants but spurred police to arrest a 55-year-old suspect, who now faces hate crime charges.
West Ham blisteringly condemned the chants and vowed to issue the offenders with indefinite bans from the club.
“West Ham United is appalled by the contents of the video circulating on social media and condemn the behaviour of the individuals involved. The club is liaising with the airline and relevant authorities to identify the individuals,” a statement read.
“We continue to be unequivocal in our stance – we have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination. Any individuals identified will be issued with an indefinite ban from the club. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of the football club and we do not welcome any individuals who do not share those values.”
Source: Y Net News
Also Read: French court fines seven people over anti-Semitic posts targeting Miss France runner-up
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Low-cost carrier Ryanair has issued a statement to clarify its response to an incident in which a woman was racially abused on one of its flights, and accused the daughter of the victim of making an “untrue” claim about whether the airline made an apology. Ryanair also implied its cabin crew had not understood the seriousness of the incident at the time, which happened while passengers were boarding a flight from Barcelona to Stansted last Friday.
In a statement, Ryanair said it “immediately wrote . . . to the female passenger at 11am on Sunday morning, apologising sincerely for what happened on board the aircraft . . . We also invited the passenger to contact the airline if they wished to discuss the matter further. The claim made in the media in recent days, that Ryanair did not contact or apologise to the female passenger, is untrue.” Carol Gayle, daughter of victim Delsie Gayle, said in the days after the incident: “Nobody has apologised. We’ve not had nothing. We just want an open apology from Ryanair.”
However, on Friday Ryanair made public copies of a letter and an email that it said had been sent on Sunday morning from the airline’s customer disruptions manager to Ms Gayle: “On behalf of Ryanair, may I sincerely apologise for what happened on board our aircraft,” the letter said. Ryanair also said it only became aware of a video of the incident — in which a man identified as David Mesher called Mrs Gayle “an ugly black bastard” — late on Saturday, October 20, “when it gained widespread coverage on social media.” The airline said it reported the incident to the police at 9am the next morning. It implied its cabin crew had not understood the seriousness of the incident at the time: “While these events were videoed by another passenger on a mobile phone, this video was not shown to cabin crew until after landing in London Stansted.”
Mr Mesher spoke to media on Friday morning, saying he was “not a racist person by any means” and apologising for Mrs Gayle’s distress. He claimed it was “just a fit of temper at the time”. The airline said: “Ryanair’s Spanish cabin crew were aware of an argument between these two passengers during the boarding process, but were not aware of, as they were not present when, racist comments that were made by the male passenger towards the female passenger.” Robin Kiely, head of communications at Ryanair, said the airline had “treated [the incident] with the urgency and seriousness it warranted”.
“We trust that this statement will address the inaccurate media coverage of this incident over recent days, and that the legal rights of both passengers will be respected, while the police services in Essex and Barcelona conduct their investigation of this matter, with Ryanair’s full co-operation and assistance.”
Ryanair accuses air traffic control provider Nats of discrimination
Ryanair accuses air traffic control provider Nats of discrimination
Ryanair has accused the UK’s air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats of discriminating against it and other London Stansted airlines.
The budget carrier claimed 52% of all ATC delays in the London area “caused by Nats” during the first three months of the year affected flights at Stansted, which is its largest base.
This is compared with zero at Heathrow and 10% at Gatwick.
A failure of Nats to “fairly supply” staffing and airspace resources at Stansted has “wreaked havoc” this summer, according to Ryanair.
Its analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data found that 2018 is on course to be the worst year on record for ATC disruptions at the Essex airport.
Ryanair has submitted a formal complaint to the European Commission and the CAA over the issue.
Ryanair has accused the UK’s air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats of discriminating against it and other London Stansted airlines. The budget carrier claimed 52% of all ATC delays in the London area “caused by Nats” during the first three months of the year affected flights at Stansted, which is its largest base. This is compared with zero at Heathrow and 10% at Gatwick. A failure of Nats to “fairly supply” staffing and airspace resources at Stansted has “wreaked havoc” this summer, according to Ryanair. Its analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data found that 2018 is on course to be the worst year on record for ATC disruptions at the Essex airport. Ryanair has submitted a formal complaint to the European Commission and the CAA over the issue. Its analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data found that 2018 is on course to be the worst year on record for ATC disruptions at the Essex airport. Ryanair has submitted a formal complaint to the European Commission and the CAA over the issue.
Ryanair loses defamation case against three pilots
Ryanair has lost its High Court action for defamation against three pilots.
A jury found a September 2013 email “Pilot update: what the markets are saying about Ryanair” did mean the airline was guilty of market manipulation.
However, in their majority verdict of nine or more, they found Ryanair had not proved malice by the three defendants, Evert Van Zwol, John Goss and Ted Murphy.
As the court had found the update was published on an occasion of qualified privilege, which is only lost where malice is proven, there was no defamation.
Mr Justice Bernard Barton, on the application of Paul O’Higgins SC, for the defendants, dismissed the case and granted costs. He put a stay on the costs in the event of an appeal following an application from Thomas Hogan SC, for Ryanair.
The defendants were congratulated by friends and family who had attended court.
In a statement, Ryanair said: “We welcome the jury’s decision that the RPG statements were defamatory. We are disappointed with the ruling on malice and have instructed our lawyers to immediately appeal.”
The jury, of nine men and two women (one member was lost on the final day due to illness) had been deliberating from 10.30am on Thursday to just before 6pm.
Ryanair brought its case against the three who are members of the Ryanair Pilot Group (RPG) interim council, as publishers of the update which went to 2,289 Ryanair pilots.
They denied defamation and denied the meaning attributed to the words of the update by Ryanair.
They also said the words had the benefit of qualified privilege whereby a statement published to someone with an interest in receiving such information is protected as long as it is not motivated by malice.
The airline claimed that by publishing that incorrect statement, the defendants were saying, by innuendo or insinuation, the airline misled investors, knowingly facilitated insider dealing by management, was guilty of market manipulation and conspired with management to abuse the markets.