by Eldad Beck, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
The higher court in Frankfurt says Kuwaiti ban on Israeli citizens in Germany is "unacceptable and irrelevant," but rules it is impossible in practice for the airline to defy Kuwaiti law
Kuwait Airways has been harshly criticized for its policy
Illustration: Reuters
A German court
ruled on Tuesday that Kuwait Airways could not be forced to carry an
Israeli passenger who had bought a ticket from Germany to Thailand,
upholding a lower court decision that had angered German officials and
Jewish groups.
The higher court in Frankfurt said a
Kuwaiti ban on Israeli citizens was "unacceptable and irrelevant" in
Germany. But it was impossible in practice for the airline to carry the
man, because Kuwaiti law would have prevented him from changing planes in Kuwait.
"As Israelis in practice are not allowed to
enter the transit areas of Kuwait's airport, the plaintiff cannot
demand transportation by the Kuwaiti airline from Frankfurt to Bangkok
with a stopover in Kuwait."
The plaintiff in the case, an Israeli man
who was denied boarding on a flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok via
Kuwait, had argued that the lower court's decision accepted a racist
Kuwaiti law and allowed the airline to override German laws.
Anti-Semitism remains a sensitive issue in
Germany, one of Israel's closest allies, more than 70 years after the
Nazi Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed.
Kuwait Airways said it believed the lawsuit
was a politically motivated campaign against it and that it had great
respect for Germany's laws.
"In both proceedings, the judges came to
the same conclusion in their judgments, which were comprehensible to all
sides, well balanced, well-founded and well-derived: Kuwait Airways
acted in accordance with the laws of Germany and its home country," the
airline said in a statement.
The Lawfare Project, which had filed the
appeal, said it was exploring its options for further legal action and
called on politicians to intervene.
"Now that justice so far has proven unable
to solve this matter, politics immediately need to make clear decisions
and tell the Kuwaitis: Carry everyone or no one," Nathan Gelbart, the
group's German counsel, who represented the Israeli plaintiff, said in a
statement.
Eldad Beck, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/09/26/german-court-says-kuwait-airways-cannot-be-forced-to-carry-israeli-passenger/
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