USA Today:
JERUSALEM — Jews and Israelis, or passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith, will not be able to fly Delta Air Lines flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under Delta’s new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines.
Although Delta announced in January that the Saudi airline would join its SkyTeam network next year, the implications of the deal only came to light recently, according to people who have scrutinized the details.
Saudi Arabia, which is governed by strict Islamic law, requires citizens of almost every country to obtain a visa. People who wish to enter the country must have a sponsor; women, who must be dressed according to Saudi standards of modesty, must be met at the Saudi airport by a man who will act as a chaperone.
Saudi Arabia bans anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport from entering the country, even in transit. Many Jews believe the kingdom has also withheld visas from travelers with Jewish-sounding names.
Religious items such as Bibles that are not related to Islam may be confiscated at the airport.
Simply all Americans of good will should boycott Delta, and divest their protfolios of all Delta stock. Let Delta support support themselves with all those wonderful people in Islamic countries and all those warm, kindly people at CAIR.
It's past time that those who wish to appease Islam at the expense of the rest of us get their wish and experience the consequences.Good luck with that, Delta.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI say let's boycott the UK for barring Michael Savage.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDoes it strike anyone else that this is a "test case," a trial balloon of sorts, by the Saudis to see just what they can foist on the US, just how much Americans are willing to take?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOn the one hand, Delta has to abide by the rules of the places it flies, I guess. On the other hand, if Delta was an ethical and moral company, they would just plain decide NOT to fly to Saudi Arabia rather than comply with this bigotry. By the way, Christians? Don't miss the fact that this applies to you, too, and not just Jews. That bit about non-Islamic articles of faith? Leave your bible, your cross, or other things home.
Unfortunately, I've already paid for a trip aboard Delta in a couple of weeks. It will be my last with them--EVER. That may be an inconvenience for some destinations I visit, but I'm willing to be inconvenienced for the cause of non-discrimination. Too bad Delta Airlines, a once-honorable American corporation, isn't willing to forego the "convenience" of flying to Saudi Arabia and abetting that Kingdom's bigotry, repression, and hate.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"On the other hand, if Delta was an ethical and moral company, they would just plain decide NOT to fly to Saudi Arabia rather than comply with this bigotry."
No. According to the standard conservative view of capitalism, the sole moral obligation of a company is to make money. Period. If a company makes more money by adhering to these procedures than not--and that seems plausible, given that an airline can only access Saudi Arabia and its fantastically rich passengers if it follows these rules--then that is what it must do. Again: period, full stop.
Now if Delta loses more money than it gains by this move, which I think is possible given its hub at JFK, then its policy would be immoral, at least by the general standards of capitalism--not because it excluded or mistreated the Jews (that's irrelevant by these lights) but because it didn't make as much money as another alternative.
If you find all this a bit distasteful, as Jonah presumably does (since he didn't acknowledge these arguments probably isn't aware of them), then welcome to the wonderful world of leftism, where the moral values dictated by capitalism are tempered by...well, by some other set of values, whatever someone like Jonah decides they might be.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLorraine,
You have a truly confused view of what a co should do vs what it should be allowed to do.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"According to the standard conservative view of capitalism, the sole moral obligation of a company is to make money."
No. This is might be the libertine (not libertarian) view of things, but there is nothing in conservative philosophy that suggests that companies should eschew morality in the pursuit of a dollar. Considering that the retribution (namely boycotts) could cost the company more money than it makes by this deal, the wise thing profit-wise would be to nix the deal.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYour notions about capitalism must come from a comic book.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWouldn't surprise me. Most comic book writers are liberals.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMost liberals are comic book characters.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd therein lies the problem of what you refer to as "standard conservative view of capitalism," if that's truly what it is.
Corporations are made up of individuals (the logic behind the correctly decided Citizens United case). Just as their rights don't end simply because they've chosen to form a corporation, standards of morality that we would apply to them as individuals aren't changed or suspended because they decide to form a corporation. For example, if Delta decided to use slave labor in a county were it was legal, it would still be immoral even if they were making money doing it.
If enabling bigotry and religious and ethnic discrimination is immoral for individuals, then it's immoral for individuals joined together as a corporation to do it.
From what sources do you derive the belief that the "sole moral obligation of a company is to make money?"
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"According to the standard conservative view of capitalism, the sole moral obligation of a company is to make money."
According to the standard conservative/libertarian view, a company belongs to the owners and its obligation is to server the owners. This is little different than how you expect your TV, house, or bicycle to behave. As a moral owner, you don't want your bicycle running over a 3 year-old child. Similarly, as a moral owner you don't want your company discriminating against Jews.
The moral obligations of the company are the same as the moral obligations of the owners as the company is an extension of the owner's ability to do things.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDelta doesn't fly to Saudi Arabia. They just provide a code share with Saudi Airlines.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMyKu:
That tears it for me.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe should ban Saudi students
from all our flight schools.
If you get to go
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo Saudi Arabia
Go to Spain instead
hmmm ... USA Today has deleted the story, but left the comments up
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat's weird.
It makes me wonder to myself, "How much does Delta Airlines spend with USA Today each year?"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou can get away with almost anything as long as you're sitting on a gi-normous ocean of crude oil. So it seems that's the lesson here.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat link doesn't work. Wonder if the story is bogus.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNot bogus.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExternal Link