Frontier Airlines has been accused of anti-Semitism after forcing a Jewish family to deplane on Sunday, allegedly because an infant was not wearing a face mask.
The incident involved Martin Joseph and his large group of Orthodox Jewish family members who were on a Frontier Airlines flight from Miami to New York.
The airline’s own policy during the coronavirus pandemic states that children under 2 are not required to wear face masks while flying.
Later on Sunday, the airlines claimed that the issue was with adults in the group “who refused to wear masks” and that “repeated requests to comply with federal law necessitated their removal from the flight.” However, Joseph said videos from the plane show that all the adults in his group were wearing face masks.
According to the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC), multiple eyewitnesses said that as the Jewish passengers started leaving the plane, Frontier crew members “applauded, exchanged high-fives and one allegedly said ‘a job well done to those Jews.’ ”
OJPAC accused the Frontier crew of “bigoted behavior.”
The Anti-Defamation League New York/New Jersey on Monday called for a “full and transparent investigation” into the matter, adding that there were “apparent anti-Semitic comments made by crew or others.”