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.

[Sub-Driver]

call the ACLU...........

[dead]

"We will not be silent"

You don't have to be silent, and they don't have to let you on their airplane.

[Lurking in Kansas]

Posted:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1692459/posts

[rickmichaels]

"We will not be silent"

Neither will we, scumbag.

[unkus]

To the ACLU: Interpret this: %(*#_(<##@+ YOU.

[montag813]

SO what? During the hostage crisis in 1980, my friend was not allowed to wear his t-shirt which said "F**k Iran" to school, as popular as it was with both friends and faculty.

[samadams2000]

Meanwhile Im looking for that ISAM is a Dynamite Religion tee shirt with the exploding turbin.

[npg]

maybe CAIR should get a tour

[rocksblues]

Four officials from JetBlue or from a government agency

Well Jarrar, who did it to you and when?

[MikefromOhio]

Well damn there goes my "Who's your Baghdaddy" shirt....

[BigSkyFreeper]

Four officials from JetBlue or from a government agency...

Speculation. Junk journalism. Whoever wrote this report must be suffering a severe case of Bush Hatred Syndrome.

[Paleo Conservative]

SO what? During the hostage crisis in 1980, my friend was not allowed to wear his t-shirt which said "F**k Iran" to school, as popular as it was with both friends and faculty.

You mean the one with Mickey Mouse flipping the finger?

[mirkwood]

[Paleo Conservative]

http://www.chiprowe.com/articles/legal-history-finger.html

[KellyAdmirer]

"It's ironic," Jarrar said. "I was silenced by the state."

Don't flatter yourself, it sounds like you were silenced by JetBlue.

[shankbear]

If it wasn't the TSA of the airport authority then this Muzzie terror supporter can just crap and bark at the moon. 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. He profiled himself by wearing the shirt. He pointed the finger at himself. Too friggin bad mohammaden puke.

[The Blitherer]

Is this supposed to make me feel bad for him? I think its gonna backfire. He obviously did this on purpose, knowing the airport security would stop him and he'd gain sympathy points for Muslims from the Lefties.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

I'd say they made the decision in order to save the fares of people who would have refused to fly.

[goresalooza]

"An Arab human rights activist"

Oxymoron? I don't think they give a damn about anyone's human rights.

[ladyinred]

So? I suppose he will sue and win the case right? If he does, we are through as a nation.

[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.

[swain_forkbeard]

Reasonable. Quite reasonable. That is, if it was indeed the airline that refused to let the ticketed passenger board.

But then it would be reasonable also for the airline to compensate the denied passenger for any acutal economic loss as well as hardship and inconvenience for the airline's unilateral abrogation of a contract.

[Texas Songwriter]

good.

[dead]

But then it would be reasonable also for the airline to compensate the denied passenger for any acutal economic loss as well as hardship and inconvenience for the airline's unilateral abrogation of a contract.

Fine by me, though in this case, I suspect the business of this "Arab human rights activist" is soliciting "unfair" reactions that he can be outraged by. In that sense, his business was not interrupted in any way by the airlines actions.

[funny007]

Since the USA is now on the Amnesty international list as a major torture nation: ie; Cuba, secret prisons around the world and so on your point is moot. The USA is good friends with Nation's that torture, so we are culpable in the Torture you refer to. Campaigning in the USA is part of the route to change. If you knew anything about the world, you would know that other nations look to the USA for guidance on matters such as freedom. All who come to this country have the right to a better life. Just like the catholics in this country that ignore or refuse to practice parts of their religion, Muslims are also trying to update their religion from within.It is easy to be an Arm Chair critic -- not one person Bloging has said,I don't know what I am talking about and need to get educated. I only only know about 20% of what I need to learn on this subject, but at least my 20% is 20% of firm truth unlike most of the others on here whose comments are 100% bigotry and Paranoia.

[CJ Wolf]

They should have just singled him out for extensive orafice searching, see how silent he is after that.

[eyespysomething]

SO you don't plan on staying here long, right?

[miss marmelstein]

Don't you think he did it on purpose? To bring about an ACLU suit that would allow Arab men to wear snarky t-shirts and carry boxcutters onto the aircraft!

[MikefromOhio]

Probably :)

[bonfire]

Lot of new sign-ups today. The left is getting nervous.

[eyespysomething]

Yes, and posting on old threads, too. I saw one on a 2003 thread, lol.