Jewish Girls Get Stuck in Amsterdam; KLM Accused of Antisemitic Extortion
Eighteen teenaged Jewish girls stuck in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, because of what they describe as antisemtic-motivated extortion by KLM airline, have obtained tickets home to New York on another airline Friday morning and expect to be back in time for Shabbos.
The teenagers were part of a group of 50 girls that had been touring Jewish sites in Europe, according to a brother of one of the girls who requested anonymity, and Rabbi Yisroel Kahan, a Monsey-based activist with Oizrim Jewish Council, who spoke with Hamodia on Thursday evening.
Their flight home from Ukraine had a stopover in Amsterdam. The brother, who is in New York and has spoken with his sister on the phone, said the flight crew was “harassing the girls the entire time.”
“Every few minutes, they were coming over to the girls, saying, ‘Fix your mask,’ even though the masks were on properly the entire time,” the brother said. “Then, when the girls started eating, the flight attendants said they were not allowed to eat because it was not the official meal time, but they didn’t say a word about the mask.”
When the group attempted to board the connecting flight in Amsterdam for New York, 18 of them were denied entry and told they could not board the flight. No reason was given. These are the first 18 girls on the group’s list in alphabetical order; all have last names beginning with A through K.
The chaperone had already boarded the second plane when she realized 18 of her girls were missing. She began to leave the plane, despite a warning from the flight crew that she would be arrested if she did so. She was not arrested.
KLM has said it would put the girls on another flight if each pays a $3,000 fine, plus $275 for release of their luggage.
At first, the girls went to a Delta counter to try to get on a Delta flight. But Delta, which is a partner company with KLM, said the girls would need to pay the same $3,000 plus $275 to get on a Delta flight.
Family members reached out to Oizrim Jewish Council, which contacted attorneys and elected officials in Holland, who worked on the girls’ behalf, racing to get them and their chaperone out on a flight in time to arrive in New York for Shabbos. UJO of Williamsburg reached out to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who intervened with Dutch authorities.
Most of the 18 girls live in Monsey, Williamsburg or Boro Park.
“The girls are nervous and scared,” the brother said. While the flight attendants did not make any antisemitic statements, he says that “this is obviously antisemitism. They targeted 18 Jewish girls, in alphabetical order. And they didn’t even bother giving a reason.”
Shortly after midnight Friday, the lawyer told Rabbi Kahan that he will pay off the fine and get the girls out on a United flight early Friday, and then sue the airline. Subsequently, after the intervention of officials and a mini uproar, Delta said it would fly the girls home without any extra fees.
The girls are spending the night in a cordoned-off area of the airport. Chabad shluchim have brought food.
Rabbi Kahan said, “The fact that the 18 girls were chosen in alphabetical order, raises serious doubts about the legitimacy of the airline’s complaints.”
KLM did not immediately respond to Hamodia’s request for comment about the incident.
