The airline says they cannot allow Israelis on the planes because the Middle Eastern kingdom prohibits it citizens from doing business with citizens of the Jewish state.
“On December 15th, Kuwait Airways informed the United States Department of Transportation that they will be eliminating service between JFK and London Heathrow,” said a department spokesperson.
The airline has at least twice refused to let customers with Israeli passports buy tickets on flights from New York to London because of the Islamic state’s ban on trade with Israel.
It did not say when its last flight on that route would be.
Politicians who had pushed for the feds to nix the airline’s permit say they are glad the company decided to end the flight.
“If you’re so anti-Semitic that you would rather cancel a flight than provide service to Israeli passport holders, then good riddance,” said Councilman Rory Lancman.
Lancman said it was unconscionable that Kuwait, who the United States helped liberate in the early 1990s with the help of Jewish soldiers, would continue to discriminate against Israelis.
“They should show some gratitude that they even have their dictatorial little half-assed country,” said Lancman.
The airline will still run its New York-to-Kuwait flight from JFK, but since Israelis are not allowed in the country, the feds cannot require them to allow Israelis on that flight.
The lawyer for Eldad Gatt, the Israeli citizen who tried to buy a ticket on the New York to London flight in the fall of 2013 and was denied, said he does not plan to drop his suit against the airline and that he would like a formal ruling that the airline is discriminating against Israelis.
Kuwait Airways officials did not return calls for comment.
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