CNN
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A Delta employee was removed from their positions on the airline’s social media following a backlash over a post made from an official account that alleged that some perceived as anti-Palestinian.
In a statement shared with CNN Friday, Delta said the company “We removed a comment mistakenly posted on X on Wednesday because it was not consistent with our values and mission to connect the world.”
“The team member responsible for the post has been notified and is no longer participating in Delta’s social media channels,” the airline said in the statement. “We apologize for this error.”
On Wednesday, an account on X reposted photos of two Delta Airlines flight attendants wearing Palestinian flag pins on their uniforms. It is unclear which account first posted the images.
“Since 2001, we have taken off our shoes at every airport because of a terrorist attack on American soil. Now imagine boarding a Delta flight and seeing workers wearing Hamas badges in the air. What do you do?” read the post, which wrongly equates the Palestinian flag with that flown by the militant group.
Screenshots show that Delta’s official account responded Wednesday, writing, “I hear you, because I would be terrified too, personally. Our employees reflect our culture and we do not take lightly when our policy is not followed.” That post has since been deleted, and it was unclear what policy it was referring to.
This response prompted a swift backlash from Delta employees and leaders of the Palestinian and Muslim communities.
Azka Mahmood, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Georgia, where the airline is based, said in a statement that associating the Palestinian national symbol with Hamas “erases the existence and legitimacy of all of Palestine.”
“The Palestinian flag represents a country and the national aspirations of more than 7 million Palestinians,” she said. “It is clear that some groups want to completely delegitimize the flag of Palestine, suppress any expression of the existence of Palestine and discourage open support for Palestinian rights.”
A Delta spokesperson said the flight attendants pictured were following the airline’s current uniform guidelines and that the airline has reached out to them to offer its support. Both flight attendants remain employed by the airline, the spokesperson said..
However, starting Monday, the airline will only allow the wearing of pins that feature the American flag, Delta told CNN. The move is a departure from previous policies that allowed the display of pins representing countries and nationalities around the world, the spokesperson said.
Mahmood criticized the uniform policy change, noting that it “erodes (Delta employees’) freedom of expression.”
“We should be concerned that this policy change has come in response to negative attention related to Palestine in particular. The fact that in the past, flight attendants have been able to wear pins expressing solidarity with Ukraine, for example, without any problems speaks volumes,” she said. “Delta should be standing up for its employees’ right to free speech rather than bowing to pressure.”
On Thursday, a group of Delta employees working toward unionization released an open letter they sent to the company’s CEO, demanding a public apology for the post.
“For decades, it has been common for crew members to wear pins reflecting their origins. The strength of the network’s airline diversity is celebrated as a reflection of the places and people we connect around the world,” the group said. said in his letter.
“Everyone should be able to freely express their pride and support for their heritage without encountering hostility or discrimination from their employers or clients.”
Following the incident, American civil rights activist and Muslim scholar Omar Suleiman – who has around 8 million followers on social media – urged his followers to boycott Delta.
In 2023, CAIR said it received the highest number of complaints of anti-Muslim bias in the organization’s 30-year history, CNN previously reported.
The civil rights group said nearly half of the complaints received occurred in the last three months of the year, after THE Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Mahmood maintains that the figures “probably underrepresent the true extent of anti-Muslim activity in the United States” due to a lack of knowledge about how to report incidents as well as the fact that some citizens “simply accept it as a part of life in the United States.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly described the group of Delta employees who published an open letter to the airline’s CEO. They are not recognized as a union.
