British Airways today disclosed some of the steps it takes to avoid offending the Arab world by omitting Israel from much of its publicity.
A press officer for the state-owned aviation company told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that it prints two editions of its 24-page world-wide timetable. One of them, which includes the services to Israel, is for general distribution. The other, omitting Israel, goes to British Airways offices in the Arab world. The spokesman also disclosed that BA draws up special lists of its offices which omit mention of its three offices in Israel.
This has come to light because one of these lists was inadvertently sent to a company in Israel in connection with an international conference on fire, security and safety held in London last week. British Airways had supplied the list to the organizers of the conference who distributed it exactly as it was received.
These admissions were made following protests to BA over the absence of Israel from an otherwise comprehensive list of nationality marks on civil aircraft published in the company’s 1976 diary. Previously, BA has claimed that this was “an unfortunate oversight,” pointing out that the diary does give the addresses of its offices in Israel.
But Paul Maurice, one of the BA’s press officers, told the JTA that whoever drew up the list “must have dropped the Israeli marking for obvious political reasons.” Had Israel been included, it would have appeared between the names of Yemen and Libya.
MATTER TAKEN UP
Meanwhile, the matter has been taken up with BA by the newly-formed Anti-Boycott Committee. It is understood, too, that the British government has been made aware of Israeli views about it.
Amos Lavie, the Economics Minister at the Israel Embassy in London, described BA’s behavior as “voluntary compliance with the Arab boycott of Israel.” Many British businesses, he claimed, voluntarily evade Israel out of irrational fear of the boycott. Often they are deterred from actions which do not contravene the Arab boycott’s regulations.
Other apparent examples of BA’s attitude include an advertisement announcing the use of the Tristar aircraft to the Persian Gulf and India as “the first time this popular new aircraft has been operated by the airline outside Europe.” In fact, it has been flying to Israel daily for the past eight months. In the three days before Passover, the aircraft helped BA to carry 2000 more passengers to Israel than it would have done otherwise.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
