More Than 20 Orthodox Jews Booted from Plane Over Suspicious Mask Excuse, Other Passengers Call Out Flight Crew

By Garion Frankel March 26, 2021 at 10:49am

Wearing a mask is a simple and effective way to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Millions of Americans wear them daily as a personal choice.

But the powers that be are loath to see individuals making that decision for themselves. Companies and governments at all levels around the country seem to be competing over who can issue the most strident mask mandate of all.

Americans determining what suits the needs of themselves and their families? That’s crazy talk!

Unfortunately, as an Orthodox Jewish family flying on Frontier Airlines discovered, not even babies are exempt from the cultish devotion to any and all coronavirus mitigation efforts.

According to WABC-TV, Martin Joseph and 21 of his family members boarded Frontier Airlines Flight 2878 in Miami, planning to travel to LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

“They asked one of my daughters and son-in-law — they had a baby of 15 months old — that where is the mask for the baby?” Joseph said. “My daughter explained that the law doesn’t require a mask.”

Joseph’s daughter was correct — but Frontier Airlines didn’t care, ordering the entire family off the plane, WABC reported.

That’s not where the story ends though. Joseph claimed that other, unrelated Orthodox Jewish passengers were thrown off the flight as well.

“If you want to treat me to the statement to say that it was racism, that we were singled out, I believe so, yes, I believe so,” Joseph told the outlet.

Were the flight crew's actions appropriate?

Another passenger supported Joseph’s story, claiming that members of the flight crew congratulated themselves on “a job well done to those Jews.”

Frontier Airlines released a statement to WABC disputing Joseph’s whole story.

“The issue that arose was not with the child,” the airline claimed. “There were multiple adults in the group who refused to wear masks despite repeated requests to do so.”

A Frontier spokeswoman told The New York Times that “a large group of passengers repeatedly refused to comply with the U.S. government’s federal mask mandate.”

“Multiple people, including several adults, were asked repeatedly to wear their masks and refused to do so,” said the spokeswoman, Jennifer de la Cruz. “Based on the continued refusal to comply with the federal mask mandate, refusal to disembark the aircraft and aggression towards the flight crew, local law enforcement was engaged. The flight was ultimately canceled.”

However, the social media video provided to WABC by the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council clearly indicates that all passengers — including Orthodox Jewish passengers — were wearing masks.

Other passengers also reported that the baby was indeed the only person not wearing a mask.

So what gives?

Does the social media video miss crucial events that would support the airline’s story, or is there more nefarious anti-Semitism afoot? Either way, forcing a baby to wear a mask is completely contrary to public health guidelines.

According to KidsHealth, children under the age of 2 should not wear a mask. In fact, mask-wearing can be extremely dangerous for infants. This is for four reasons:

Young children have small airways, meaning that their breathing becomes strenuous when they wear masks.
Young children may not have the capacity to express that they are having trouble breathing, increasing the risk for suffocation.
Masks (especially homemade masks) can be a significant choking hazard.
Young children are more likely to remove their masks and touch their faces, defeating the purpose of wearing one in the first place.

The thought of an airline removing a family because they wouldn’t force their baby to wear a mask is both heartbreaking and terrifying. Has our society truly devolved to the point in which we force parents to put their child’s health at risk for the sake of public health theater?

This isn’t even the first time this has happened. Back in December, a Colorado family was thrown off a plane because their 2-year-old wouldn’t wear a mask.

Our society desperately needs to re-examine its priorities.

We are well on the way to recovering from the novel coronavirus pandemic, but the psychosis it induced may linger for years if something doesn’t change quickly.

Submit a Correction →