JetBlue airline alters Israeli borders, labels Golan Heights ‘Palestinian territories’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The U.Sl-based JetBlue airline updated its in-flight map to alter Israel’s borders and label some areas, such as the Golan Heights, as “Palestinian Territory.”

The label “Palestinian Territory” was much larger than Israel, and the phrase was overlaid onto  Israel’s borders.

Hodaya Knafo, an Israeli woman, noticed the egregious alteration on a flight from Miami to San Diego.

Knafo said she was trying to explain to another passenger how small Israel was.

“The label was prominently displayed in a way that didn’t seem innocent,” she said, and additionally, the borders were incorrect.”

“It happens often that the word Israel creates a dialogue,” Knafo said, “I wanted to show him where Israel is located on the map on the plane’s screens. When I saw the map, I was shocked.”

“They don’t show a division of” Judea and Samaria, “so it doesn’t seem like that’s what they meant by the ‘Palestinian Territory’ label.” Knafo continued.

“Also, I think this is new because I don’t remember seeing something like this on previous flights,” she concluded.

The fact that the altered map comes at a time of rising anti-semitism is disturbing, Knafo indicated.

“It’s really, quite annoying and frustrating to see this after the year we’ve been through.” She said, “I’m returning to my studies in a month, and I already know that I’m returning to a battlefield.”

JetBlue was also sued by a kashrut organization in 2022 over snacks that were labeled as kosher, but they weren’t.

Kosher Supervision Service, Inc. owns the Kof-K symbol, used since the early 1970s to certify that food is kosher. According to the company’s complaint, JetBlue’s “SavorUp” snack box contains a package of artichokes, which the low-cost airline says is certified kosher by the Kof-K, when it does not supervise the food.

The entire snack box was also advertised as kosher.