Delta Pilot Refuses to Fly Israeli Official For Security Reasons

CINCINNATI, August 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A pilot for a Delta Air Lines subsidiary would not fly Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior from Cincinnati to Toronto because the pilot thought Melchior posed a security risk, an Israeli radio station reported Monday, August 12.

Melchior, who was being escorted by State Department officials, told Israel Radio that he waited on the plane Friday, August 9, for more than an hour before the pilot evacuated it, saying there was a security risk, the Washington Post said.

When Melchior disembarked, he said, he was told he was not allowed to get back on the plane.

“The security officials and the company all put pressure on him, and there were negotiations,” Melchior told the station.

“But the pilot is sovereign on his aircraft, and he is empowered to make such a decision, and he did it in spite of all the pressure from the company and security officials.”

According to the Post, Melchior said he flew out on another Delta plane about a half-hour later. He has since returned to Israel.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington has taken up the matter with the State Department, he said.

Officials with the Atlanta-based airline would not discuss the incident. “We don’t comment on our security incidents,” Delta spokeswoman Catherine Stengel said.

This is the third time an Israeli official has been pulled from a flight because of a pilot's sense of a security risk, the radio station reported, the daily said.

The others reportedly were Alon Pinkas, the Israeli consul general in New York, and a bodyguard of Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

“This singling out of Israeli diplomats ... and removing them from a plane in such a manner, and the very fact that we are Israelis [is deemed] to pose a security risk, is intolerable,” Melchior said.