SWC rejects the Air France Facebook 'apology', stating that they “Deeply regret this incident, due to a map scale and display problem which is currently being resolved”, as feeble and totally inadequate.

August 3, 2015

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE-EUROPE
Tel: +33(0)1 47 23 76 37
Fax: +33(0)147 20 84 01

Mail: csweurope@gmail.com

Paris

In a letter to Air France Chairman and CEO, Frédéric Gagey, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, noted, “French members of our Centre have sent us, reportedly captured shots from an English and French language Air France flight-path taken last week between New York and Paris,” adding, “The locations 'Israel' and 'Tel Aviv' are glaringly absent.”

Photo: Screen shot from JSS News 1 August 2015

The letter noted, “We are asked whether Air France has succumbed to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign to delegitimize the Jewish State by literally wiping it off the map?”

Samuels argued, “If these allegations are bona fide, I, as a Platinum Flying Blue member who regularly flies the Paris-Tel Aviv route, am now gravely concerned regarding the implications for pilot error.”

 

The Centre stressed, “Whether these photos have been doctored or whether authentic, we urge Air France to identify those responsible and to take appropriate legal measures against them.”

“Major airline flights, on landing, customarily thank the passengers for choosing to fly them. If Air France does not immediately remedy this protest, our constituency will certainly make their choice accordingly,” concluded Samuels.

 

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at 00 33 6 09 77

01 58, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).