First salvo: Meet Neria Kraus, anchorwoman and US correspondent for News13, Israel’s most rabid left-wing channel. On Tuesday, Neria tweeted:
“Haredim on the flight are now trying to move me from one seat to another. Because I am a woman. United Airlines doesn’t handle this, by the way. They tell me that because of me, the flight will not depart. Shame (she used the popular Busha).”
חרדים בטיסה עכשיו מנסים להזיז אותי ממושב למושב. כי אני אישה. יונייטד אירליינס אגב לא מטפלים בזה. אומרים לי שבגללי הטיסה לא תצא. בושה. pic.twitter.com/e6BsnMxOuU
— נריה קראוס Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) August 15, 2023
Neria Kraus, 29, is the archetypical leftist Israeli media person: she did her IDF service in the Army Radio, the station that bred more leftist journalists than Pravda. After her discharge, she joined Yedioth Aharonoth which, together with Haaretz, forms the bastion of anti-religious and anti-right forces in Israel. She then joined News13, which recently fired its top ratings earners because they were too right-leaning.
The above paragraph says nothing about her skills or integrity. But her Tuesday tweet does.
Her next tweet added color to her drama (and unmitigated anguish):
“What a sense of humiliation that United’s senior flight attendant, an Israeli who speaks Hebrew, approaches and shouts at me that the flight will not take off because of me. And if they do fly, the flight will have to stop in Egypt because of me. Thanks to two amazing Israeli men and one woman next to me who supported me.”
איזו תחושת השפלה שהדיילת האחראית של יונייטד, ישראלית מדברת עברית, ניגשת וצועקת עליי שבגללי הטיסה לא תצא. ושאם כן יטוסו, הטיסה תצטרך בגללי לעצור במצרים. תודה לשני גברים ואישה ישראלית מהממים לידי שתמכו בי. https://t.co/460Ac4ef9f
— נריה קראוס Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) August 15, 2023
Early Wednesday morning, user Daniel Amram posted some clarifications from his personal knowledge of the case. Watch the video, it is both entertaining and educational:
“OK, ladies and gentlemen, News13 reporter Neria Kraus said yesterday that Haredim wanted her to change seats on the flight because she is a woman. She photographed this person who has a family and is a very well-known person in Brooklyn.
“Her tweet reached over a million views, including his friends who were stunned and contacted me throughout the day, ‘There’s no way, this man hosts mixed families on Saturdays at his place,’ ‘He travels lots of times and sits next to women, there’s no way he’ll have a problem with it,’ ‘Daniel, bring the truth out.’
“So, we made sure to reach him, although he didn’t want to bring it out at all, but after much persuasion, ladies and gentlemen, here he is, telling a completely different story: It turns out that his son was with a friend, and they asked nicely if it was possible for her to move one chair over so that the friend could sit next to his son. In response, she started shouting, which made the flight attendant come to warn her that if there’s a mess here, they will cancel the flight.
“In any case, listen to the guy, tell me what you think in the comments, here is Daniel Amram without censorship, every story has two sides! And every person deserves the right to respond.
“It should be noted that I tried to catch Neria there and she didn’t answer me anymore. Peace!”
טוב גבירותיי ורבותיי כתבת חדשות 13 נריה קראוס סיפרה אתמול ש״חרדים רצו שהיא תעבור מקום בטיסה בגלל שהיא אישה״, היא צילמה את האדם הזה שהוא בעל משפחה ואדם מאד מוכר בברוקלין, הציוץ שלה הגיע למעל מליון צפיות וגם להחברים שלו שנדהמו ופנו אליי במשך כל היום, ״אין סיכוי, הבן אדם הזה מארח… pic.twitter.com/KkC4M1aYKP
— daniel amram – דניאל עמרם (@danielamram3) August 16, 2023
User Chaim Fried tweeted:
“Wow! It’s not often that I actually know the ppl who are being accused. I know the guy in the picture (and his sons), he’s no extremist, works hard for a living and is well-traveled. That plus the fact that she’s upset at the flight crew there’s likely a lot more to this story.”
Fried added:
“I just spoke to my friend. Turns out when he initially asked her to move so his son could sit in the same row as his friend, she was obliging and only changed her attitude when he took off his baseball cap to reveal a yarmulke. She was looking for an opportunity to bash Haredim.”
I have no doubt that Neria Kraus is no great lover of Haredim, you’ve read her resume. Here’s the thing, though: as someone who is forced to listen to many Israeli correspondents describe and translate events abroad, I often look for someplace to hide my embarrassment because their English is so bad, never mind the accent, which is reminiscent of fingernails grinding a blackboard. Their vocabulary is that of a seventh-grader, and not the kind of seventh-grader who gets the medals, the kind who barely gets by.
In a country packed with native English speakers who are dynamite reporters, the overseas jobs go to the Neria Krauses of the business, because, you know, they attended all the right places. What I’m saying is that maybe she didn’t understand what the Haredi man was asking of her? I’m just wondering.
H/T DansDeals
