Air France Discriminated over Pro-Palestinian Activist

Local Editor

A French court convicted Air France of discrimination for removing a pro-Palestinian activist from a plane as she traveled to "Israel" to attend a rally.

Patrick Baudouin said his client, Horia Ankour, a nursing student, was en route last April from France to take part in the "Welcome to Palestine" campaign, which saw hundreds of activists seek access to the Zionist entity in a bid to travel to the Palestinian territories.

Baudouin said Air France asked Ankour whether she was "Israeli" or Jewish, then ordered her off the plane after she acknowledged she was neither.

He said the court on Thursday found Air France guilty of discrimination, and ordered it to pay 13,000 euros in fines, damages and interest.
Air France lawyer Fabrice Pradon said the airline would appeal. He said the "Israelis" had told Air France she would not be allowed in and there was no intention to harm her.

Europe's main airlines faced a wave of passenger fury during the campaign after cancelling some 300 tickets following heavy "Israeli" pressure.
During the fly-in protest, which was called by the media the "flytilla" campaign, hundreds of pro-Palestine activists from across the globe tried to fly to Israel in an effort to travel to the occupied West Bank.

However, several activists were prohibited from boarding flights because their names were on the blacklist that the Zionist entity had given to a number of European airlines.

The campaign was not the first "flytilla" that planned a trip to the occupied Palestinian territories.

In July 2011, "Israeli" authorities made intense efforts to interrupt the first ‘flytilla' and arrested a number of activists. About 120 people were also denied entry and deported. In addition, several European countries prevented activists from boarding their flights as Tel Aviv had already blacklisted them.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org