JetBlue airlines hit with ‘anti-Semitism’ accusations after calling the police on Jewish passenger and accusing him of causing a ‘disturbance’ after he complained about flight attendant’s Palestine lapel pin

Budget airline JetBlue called the police on a Jewish passenger and accused him of “causing a disturbance” after he objected to a flight attendant’s Palestinian flag pin, the injured flier told DailyMail.com.

Paul Faust, 54, said he quietly complained about the pin to a supervisor on the plane — but when he landed, a uniformed official demanded to see his ID, claimed he was causing a commotion, called the police and then canceled his return flight.

Faust, who is Jewish, accused the airline of “blatant anti-Semitism” following the incident.

A JetBlue spokesperson said they are investigating what happened.

Faust said he was flying to Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday when he noticed a black, female flight attendant wearing several pins, including a Palestinian flag and a Black Lives Matter badge.

The Parkland, Florida-based telecom entrepreneur told DailyMail.com that he wasn’t happy about seeing the flag, but he didn’t want to cause trouble, so he kept quiet about it – reasoning that he had something equivalent: a visible Jewish tattoo.

But he said that when the crew member put on an apron to serve drinks and moved the Palestinian pin on top so that it was still visible, he took it as a deliberate provocation.

“I walked up and said to the head clerk, ‘I just want to tell you that I’m a frequent flyer, and it was disturbing that she was wearing that, and that she only changed that pin on the front of the apron, not the others Faust told DailyMail.com.

“She said, ‘Okay, I’ll talk to her.’

‘I said, ‘I don’t want there to be a problem. Maybe you can talk to her when we get off the plane. Just saying maybe it was a little insensitive, it made me feel a little uncomfortable.”

‘I went back to my seat. I didn’t say anything to this flight attendant the entire flight.”

But as he disembarked, Faust, a father of two and volunteer firefighter, said the attendant pointed him to another JetBlue staffer in a yellow vest, who began grilling him.

“He says, ‘Sir! I need to talk to you.’ Faust told DailyMail.com. “So we’re going to the top of the slope. I say, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, “The disturbance you caused on the plane.” I said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He said, ‘I need to see your ID.’ Our pilot called about the disruption you caused.” I said, ‘I didn’t cause any trouble. I’m not giving you my ID.’

“He said, ‘I’m going to call the Las Vegas police.’ I said ‘do that.’ So he calls the police and says, “I’m standing here with a passenger who caused a disturbance during our flight.”

‘One time he said I just ran away. I wasn’t going to sit there and watch him make up lies.”

Faust said the airline canceled his flight home the next day without telling him, and when he called customer service, he was shocked.

‘They read the notes to me. It said ‘Mr. Faust caused a commotion during the flight, didn’t listen to the flight crew’s instructions” – not true, there were no instructions I was given – “didn’t listen to the supervisor at the gate… And Mr. Faust said that everyone had to go to Gaza so they can be killed.’

“That wasn’t true at all,” he said. “I had a conversation with the woman next to me who brought up LGBTQ queers for Palestine. We had a quiet conversation, without addressing the flight attendant.

“I said, ‘Yes, it’s a bit sad because if they went there they would be killed.’ I had no communication whatsoever with the flight attendant.

“I specifically told the head flight attendant that I didn’t want her talking to her while I was on the plane because I didn’t want them to be disturbed. So they lied. They listened to her story, never asked me, and they canceled my flight home.”

The passenger sitting next to Faust, Rachelle Almagor, confirmed his story and shared with DailyMail.com photos she took of the attendant during the flight.

Almagor, 45, is a Jewish-Israeli-American who also lives in Florida.

‘My daughter lost her best friend in Gaza. He was kidnapped and murdered. So it was very uncomfortable for me to have to see that Free Palestine pin,” she told DailyMail.com.

‘When we got off the plane, security was waiting for us and asked for our IDs and boarding passes. We didn’t say anything wrong. It was madness.

‘She must be fired immediately.

“From the moment I got off the plane, all the way to the hotel, I was shaking. I immediately called JetBlue and canceled my flight. I was supposed to leave tonight and changed it to American Airlines.”

‘I’m a [JetBlue loyalty program] Mosaic member for 10 years, a loyal flyer,” Faust said.

“This is what’s going on right now. It’s one thing that can happen on college campuses with kids who don’t know what they’re doing. Now this is a company that, right or wrong, allows an employee to wear that pin but then also lets them treat a customer that way.

“Not a good look, JetBlue.”

A third passenger, Noel Ruiz, who sat opposite Faust and Almagor, told DailyMail.com that he did not see any disturbance on the plane.

‘I did not see anything. There was no nuisance at all,” he says.

After sharing his story with his 26,000 followers on Instagram on Monday, dozens of people responded to Faust’s message saying they would no longer fly with the airline.

Faust is a staunch supporter of Israel and regularly posts videos on his Instagram critical of pro-Palestinian protesters and praising Israel’s response to Hamas terror attacks.

In one of the more controversial videos he has posted, he suggested that protesters who chanted “We are Hamas” at pro-Palestinian rallies should be “shipped to Guantanamo Bay” because they had joined a terrorist organization.

A JetBlue spokesperson said they are investigating what happened.

“JetBlue is committed to providing a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our customers and crew members.

‘We are urgently investigating this incident, contacting the customer to hear first-hand about their experiences and speaking to the crew members involved to understand whether the actions taken were in accordance with our policies and customer service standards.’