Delta apologizes after linking attendants wearing Palestine flag pins with Hamas

California (Quds News Network)- Delta Air Lines apologized on Thursday after linking two of its flight attendants wearing Palestine flag pins with Hamas.

An X user posted two pictures Tuesday of two Delta flight attendants donning the pins and called the accessories “Hamas badges.”

“Since 2001, we take our shoes off in every airport because [of] a terrorist attack in US soil. Now imagine getting into a @Delta flight and seeing workers with Hamas badges in the air. What do you do?”

The next day, Delta replied to the post on its X official account.

“I hear you and I’d be terrified as well, personally. Our employees reflect our culture and we do not take it lightly when our policy is not being followed,” the company wrote.

“Nothing to worry, this is being investigated already, particularly the involved parties,” it added in another reply.

Both posts have since been deleted.

The campaign group StopAntisemitism first posted an image of a flight attendant on X, writing: “Hey @Delta – did you add Palestine as a new summer route?,” as well as a screengrab of what appeared to be the flight attendant’s Instagram account.

It posted a picture of a second Delta staff member with a Palestine flag pin a few days later, telling the airline that she was “causing a stir”.

A Delta spokesperson said in a statement to The Washington Post on Thursday that the airline’s social media post “was not in line with our values and our mission.”

The spokesperson said the team member who wrote the post “has been counseled and no longer supports Delta’s social channels,” but did not specify whether the team member still worked for Delta.

The flight attendants, who were photographed on separate flights, are still working for the airline and have received support from the company, Delta said in a statement.

Although it previously permitted pins representing countries outside the United States to be worn on uniforms, Delta said that starting Monday, only U.S. flag pins will be allowed — a move the airline said it made in response to this week’s incident.

Several pro-Palestine commentators and activists have called for the airline to be boycotted over its handling of the matter.

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the national deputy executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement that he initially hoped Delta’s tweet had not been written by someone who worked at the airline. He said the post could make people think the Palestinian flag is “an icon of a hate group.”

“What happened with Delta is just the latest example of anti-Palestinian racism,” Mitchell said, adding that CAIR welcomed Delta’s apology. “And my hope is that this incident will begin to slowly, slowly move the needle in a different direction.”

Yonah Lieberman, the co-founder of Jewish American campaign group IfNotNow, said that Delta was legitimising the “racist and disgusting smear that the Palestinian flag is a hate symbol”.