Franklin Sands Calls Out Delta Airlines and Saudi Partner for Anti-Israel Stances

Former Florida House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands of Weston sent out a statement on Monday attacking Delta Airlines for entering a business agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines. Sands hammered Saudi Arabian Airlines for refusing to fly passengers who have visited Israel in recent months.

As has been widely reported, Delta Air Lines has announced that it will team up with Saudi Arabian Airlines, the first Middle Eastern airline to officially join Deltas SkyTeam Alliance. SkyTeam is the world's second-largest airline alliance consisting of 14 members, including Delta Air Lines. This week, it became clear that Delta Air Lines membership in SkyTeam carries with it significant issues of corporate morality and racism, insisted Sands. Saudi Arabian Airlines, which is scheduled to join the Alliance in 2012, apparently will not allow anyone who has visited Israel, and whose passport is stamped accordingly, to fly Saudi Airlines or enter Saudi Arabia. That includes both Jews and Christians. This now begs the question as to whether a United States citizen with an Israeli stamp on their passport will be allowed to board a Delta flight and fly to Saudi Arabia.

As Americans, we preach and practice religious tolerance. The founding of our country was based on religious tolerance and freedom of religion. Therefore, I find it morally reprehensible that an otherwise outstanding American company would be a party by association to racism and religious intolerance just to make a buck, added Sands. I call upon Deltas senior management and board of directors to convene a meeting and revisit this giant corporate misstep.

And while it may or may not necessarily be illegal, as a Delta frequent flyer and a state legislator, I am saddened by both the actions and then the refusal by Delta Airlines to own up to their complicity in this blatant form of racism, noted Sands in closing. Deltas corporate moral compass is obviously broken and in need of immediate repair.