A @united crew member yelled at me that the flight to NYC won’t take off because of me – after I refused to Ultra Orthodox passengers’ request to change my seat. I was told the flight might touch down in Egypt and it would be my fault. What a humiliating event for me as a woman.

— נריה קראוס Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) August 15, 2023

An Israeli broadcast news correspondent is accusing United Airlines staff of scolding and shaming her after she refused to accommodate a group of male ultra-Orthodox passengers who’d requested that they not sit next to a woman on a flight from Ben Gurion International Airport to Newark Liberty.

In a tweet, Neria Kraus, a journalist for Israel’s Channel 13 News based in the U.S., said a Hebrew-speaking flight attendant told her it would be her fault if the New York-bound airliner didn’t leave on time — and threatened that the plane would have to make a stop in Egypt if she didn’t cooperate.

[No word yet from United about this incident. It’s not the first time this issue has come up, so one would think that United would have handled it with more aplomb than Kraus alleges here. — Ed]