U.S. report

Friday, August 16, 2002 | by

NEW YORK (JTA)—A pilot for a Delta Airlines subsidiary refused to fly Israel's deputy foreign minister because he considered him a security risk.

Rabbi Michael Melchior, plus an aide and a bodyguard were on board the plane waiting to take off from Cincinnati to Toronto on Aug. 8 when the pilot learned of his Israeli passengers.

The passengers were asked to deplane while Delta officials urged the pilot to change his mind. He refused, and Melchior flew out on a later Delta flight before catching his connection to Israel, the paper said.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington planned to lodge a protest with the State Department. This was the third incident in which American pilots refused to fly Israeli diplomats or personnel. The others reportedly were Alon Pinkas, the Israeli consul general in New York, who was forced off a flight from San Francisco, and one of Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' bodyguards.