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CLASS ACTS ALL SET FOR OUR BIG NIGHT Find out who’s been shortlisted for this year’s Jewish NewsPaJeS Jewish School Awards, ahead of next week’s annual ceremony See pages 4-6
BRITAIN’S BIGGEST JEWISH NEWSPAPER 16 February 2017
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20 Shevat 5777
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www.jewishnews.co.uk
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@JewishNewsUK
Charedim cause chaos on ‘worst ever’ easyJet flight from Israel Police board plane after group hassle staff, trigger exit light and refuse to sit with women By Francine Wolfisz francinew@thejngroup.com @FWolfisz
Desperate easyJet staff called police from 30,000ft during a “nightmare” flight from Tel Aviv to Luton, after a group of strictly-Orthodox Jewish men refused to take their seats for religious reasons. During the incident on Monday, which one air steward described as “the worst flight in the route’s 11 years”, one passenger also plugged a mobile phone into the plane’s control panel in a “foolish attempt to charge it”, causing the plane’s exit light to switch on, panicking passengers.
According to one witness, the chaos began upon boarding, when a group of male passengers refused to take seats next to women. The passenger, who did not want to be named, said: “They were blocking the aisle, making it really difficult for other passengers to get past and take their seat. “I was next to quite an elderly gentleman and he did not sit down the entire time. Everybody had to walk round him. He was just oblivious, because he was trying to swap his seat, so he wouldn’t be sitting next to a woman.” Eventually, a “bemused” female passenger offered to swap
The Hoenlein globetrotter Meet the high-profile Jewish networker who has the ear of political leaders around the world See page 10
her seat. “I chatted to her later on. She couldn’t believe the whole thing and they didn’t even say thank you. That was something the staff mentioned as well, that they did not say please or thank you.” The passenger also noted the group – a wedding party, which made up more than half of the flight – kept using the call button for the steward. “I’ve never heard it go off so many times. It was dinging constantly and it was really intrusive if you were trying to read. “I overheard the steward say: ‘I’ve only got one pair of hands.’ They were really stressing out the staff. “One steward said he’d been doing the route for 11 years and it was the worst flight he had ever experienced.” Continued on page 12
ISRAEL ON ALERT AFTER ISIS TARGETS EILAT How the IDF works behind the scenes to ensure it keeps Israeli citizens safe from the terror group See page 14
TRUMP PLEDGES TO PERSUE ‘A GREAT PEACE DEAL’
Donald Trump held back from endorsing a future Palestinian state during a cordial press conference at the White House on Wednesday with Benjamin Netanyahu. The US president said: “I’m looking at two states and one state. I will like the one both parties like.” See page 2
Crossing the tattoo taboo Family trauma inspired our writer to defy Jewish traditions and get a profoundly personal tattoo See page 26
Who runs the world? Girls! As Lena Dunham’s Girls begins its final series, we consider the legacy of the iconic cult show See page 25