JFK Passenger Not Allowed To Fly Wearing Arabic Script T-Shirt

WNBC.COM ^

[Sub-Driver]

JFK Passenger Not Allowed To Fly Wearing Arabic Script T-Shirt

POSTED: 6:25 pm EDT August 30, 2006 UPDATED: 6:27 pm EDT August 30, 2006 NEW YORK -- An Arab human rights activist says he was prevented from boarding a plane at Kennedy International Airport while wearing a T-shirt that said "We will not be silent" in English and Arabic.

The incident happened Aug. 12 when Raed Jarrar was preparing to board a JetBlue flight from Kennedy to Oakland, Calif.

Four officials from JetBlue or from a government agency stopped him at the gate and told him he couldn't get on the plane wearing his shirt, Jarrar said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

One of the officials told him, "Going to an airport with a T-shirt in Arabic script is like going to a bank and wearing a T-shirt that says 'I'm a robber."' he said.

Jenny Dervin, a spokeswoman for JetBlue, acknowledged that the dispute occurred and said the airline was investigating it.

She noted that the incident occurred two days after British authorities announced that they had foiled a plot to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic.

New restrictions banning liquids and gels in carryon baggage went into effect at U.S. airports following the Aug. 10 announcement, but Dervin said there are no specific rules governing apparel. "Each situation is different," she said.

Jarrar, who directs the Iraq project for Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based human rights organization, said he asked what law he was breaking by wearing the shirt. The officials didn't answer, he said, but suggested that he turn the shirt inside out.

"I refused to take off my T-shirt and put it on inside out because it looks like a punishment for something I have not done," he said.

[Political Junkie Too]

This reminds me of the story last year about the Palestinian TSA screener who was fired for being an Islamic rapper.

Houston (Arabic) Rapper Fired As Baggage Screener

TSA's Palestinian Rapper/Screener (Debbie Schlussel On TSA'S Unsafe Skies Alert)

-PJ

[shankbear]

And they have that vested right to do so.

[Pearls Before Swine]

The airline can pretty much do what it wants to do. The greater interest is assuring the flying public that their flight is safe not to worry about some punk's tee shirt.

The greater worry is that in this PC-crazed society, the airline will cave and apologize and cavity search a few white handicapped Anglo-Saxon grandmothers to make amends and show evenhandedness.

[Mr_Moonlight]

An Arab human rights activist says .......

That's all I needed to read after the headline. Sounds like a set-up

[MrBambaLaMamba]

Barbarians outraged! Suicide bombers hit hardest!

[COUNTrecount]

Perhaps he should wear this shirt next time he flies.Or not.

[COUNTrecount]

Here you go.

[Lurking in Kansas]

this one?
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/islam/-/pv_design_details/pg_9/id_11971657/opt_/fpt_/c_360/

[samadams2000]

Nice. Thanks! Sold.

[Dallas59]

Flying on a plane is a human right.../s

[river rat]

The Islamist bastards are insane, hypocritical damned intolerable...

The DEMAND all the freedoms of expression, welfare, education, etc., available in America --- and use those freedoms and benefits to insult and destroy us...

Non Muslims in Insaneistan can't have a Bible, wear a cross in public, build a church, etc, etc.......yet these sonsuvbitches want to wear an "in your face" challenge on a AIRPLANE of all places!!!

I would be tempted to grab the bastard wearing a Islamic T Shirt saying - "I will not be silenced" and punch his freaking lights out - then claim he hurled a silent "hate speech" insult at me.

I'm convinced - we are not far from smart asses like this asshole, getting to the point they become VERY uncomfortable being a smart ass in public and especially in airports or planes.

Semper Fi

[MrEdd]

I wasn't allowed to wear those t-shirts either.
Our platoon sgt. said we had to wear our uniforms.

[thatcertainjnsq]

I can't believe how bigoted some of these comments are. Arab Americans can campaign for human rights just as legitimately as white Americans. And calling Islam a bad religion is just like calling Christianity a bad religion. These comments, and this story, make me fear for the future of our country.

[funny007]

This is the problem with the Internet every idiot gets to make a point, even if with each word they destroy the image of the USA around the world. If we ban a harmless t-shirt from an airplane, then surely the uneducated and ill informed should not be allowed you use the web? To those of you who care about the truth: The T-shirt Said we will not be silent in Arabic and English. A reference to the majority of Muslims who are good and peaceful people who will no longer be silent and want to rid themselves of the small percentage of radicals amongst them. Perhaps it is time Christians start to weed out their bad eggs to, or American Jews stop being silent about Israel's unwarranted destruction of Lebanon -- Sorry two kidnapped professional soldiers does not justify destroying another country.

[eyespysomething]

[eyespysomething]

Campaigning for human rights in America? Try doing it in some of those 'friendly' countries that kill women for being raped, or stone people for making a bad remark about Islam, or print something bad about Mohammed.

America gives constitutional rights to terrorists.

You're a moron.

[swain_forkbeard]

"...and they don't have to let you on their airplane."

Who's they? The government? I's not their plane. The airline? They sold a ticket. That's a contract, and THEY ought to honor it.

THEY didn't like his t-shirt!!? This is so stupid and frustrating. Do like the Israelis and focus on IDing actual terrorists. Never mind the nail clippers, shampoo, Orthodox Jew praying, or non-Roman alphabet lettering on a t-shirt.

[airborne]

I suppose this shirt is out of the question then.

[swain_forkbeard]

I like it and would have no qualms about a fellow airplane passenger wearing it.

Gotta admit, wouldn't be my choice for travel attire.

[dead]

Who's they?

The airline.

They sold a ticket. That's a contract, and THEY ought to honor it.

They should be treated as a private enterprise and a private enterprise should retain the right to refuse to do business with any other private enterprise or individual. They would, of course, have to return any funds received for the services not rendered.