COMMENTARY: Delta's Saudi Arabian "No Jew Policy" Is Anti-American

Delta Air Lines this week made an agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines to ban Jews and holders of Israeli passports from boarding flights in the United States bound for Saudi Arabia.

Why would Delta even dream of making such a prejudicial agreement? Because Saudi Arabia has a policy that opposes having Jews land at its airports.

Consequently, Delta had to make one of two choices: Reject Jewish passengers, or don't fly to Saudi Arabia.

Unfortunately, Delta made the wrong choice by deciding to reject Jewish passengers on its flights to Saudi Arabia. Making money, then, appears to be more important to Delta than violating a religious group's human rights.

In addition to finding the Delta-Saudi Arabia agreement shocking, many American organizations plan to take legal action against Delta for this discriminating policy.

The U.S. State Department, Congress, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are also scrutinizing the legality of Delta's "no Jew policy," as it is now being called.

By agreeing to this policy with Saudi Arabia, Delta has opened up "a can of worms." If other Mideast countries implement such a policy, will Delta agree to it? Does Israel have the right to prevent Muslims from landing at its airports? The beat goes on...

The fact is that Delta should know better than to agree to such a policy -- even if refusing to agree to it means making less money.

Besides discriminating against Jews, Delta's agreement with Saudi Arabia violates the democratic principles upon which America was founded. It also shows disrespect for America's armed forces, as many thousands of American troops -- including Jewish troops -- lost their lives, in order to defend the freedom and equality of our great nation.

Indeed, it is imperative for America and its relentless tradition for human rights that Delta changes its decision of preventing Jews from flying to Saudi Arabia -- even if doing so means that Saudi Arabia will not allow Delta Air Lines to fly to that nation.