Lufthansa Airlines will hire an anti-Semitism manager and adopt the International Human Rights Commission’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism after an incident that garnered international attention, in which more than 100 identifiably Jewish individuals were barred from a flight on May 4, reported The Jewish Chronicle.
The passengers, many of whom were traveling individually, had been en route from New York to Budapest, Hungary, with a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany. Upon landing in Frankfurt, the Jewish individuals were denied permission to continue onboard the plane as some, according to the airline, had not followed proper mask-wearing protocols.
Germany’s national carrier said on May 10 that it “regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude the affected passengers from the flight, for which Lufthansa sincerely apologizes.
“We have zero tolerance for racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination,” it added.
Many of the Jews on the prospective flight were traveling to the town of Bodrogkeresztúr, formerly Kerestir, in Hungary for the observance of the yahrzeit (anniversary of death) of Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner, known as the Kerestir rebbe.