"Welcome to Occupied Palestine": Flight Attendant Causes Controversy on Airplane

A flight attendant from the low-cost Irish airline "Ryanair" sparked controversy on a flight to Tel Aviv this week by informing passengers that they had landed in "occupied Palestine." According to media reports, relayed by the Hebrew "Times of Israel," during the Sunday flight from Bologna, Italy, the attendant repeatedly stated in both English and Italian that the final destination was "occupied Palestine." When passengers asked her to correct her statement, the attendant refused, leading to a commotion on the plane. Channel 12 reported that passengers attempted to film the attendant and identify her, but they were threatened with arrest upon landing. The airline apologized for the incident, describing it as an "innocent mistake." Ryanair stated in a release: "A crew member on this flight from Bologna to Tel Aviv accidentally said they would be landing in Palestine instead of Tel Aviv. This was immediately corrected and apologized for by the airline."