Jewish family finds anti-Israel note inside checked luggage on flight to Israel

The group and the family have sought a full investigation from the airports, airlines, and government agencies involved.

By Gabriel Ostrovsky, The Algemeiner

A Jewish family traveling from Seattle to Israel discovered an anti-Israel message apparently placed inside their checked luggage during the journey, according to the watchdog group StopAntisemitism.

A relative of the travelers is demanding a full investigation.

A photograph posted to social media showed a dirty, folded piece of paper bearing the handwritten words “F—k Israel.”

According to a family member who publicized the incident, the note was discovered after his sister-in-law and her children arrived in Israel from Seattle.

StopAntisemitism said the family traveled on Alaska Airlines flight AS583 from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 22 before connecting at LAX to El Al flight LY106 to Tel Aviv.

It remains unclear where the note was inserted into the luggage or who was responsible.

As of publication, no airport, airline, or government agency had publicly identified who placed the note in the family’s luggage.

“My sister-in-law and her children returned from Seattle to Israel and found this note inside their luggage,” the relative wrote in an Instagram post.

“It was inserted at SEA or during transit at LAX. Unauthorized access to checked baggage by airport staff is a serious security concern.”

He said complaints had been filed with Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, LAX, Alaska Airlines, the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and the US Embassy in Israel.

“Today it was a note,” he wrote in a follow-up post. “Next time, unauthorized baggage access could involve something far more serious. This needs to be investigated.”

StopAntisemitism likewise publicly tagged the TSA and called for authorities to examine the flights and circumstances surrounding the incident.

The group and the family have sought a full investigation from the airports, airlines, and government agencies involved.

The episode follows a series of incidents in which Jewish and Israeli travelers have alleged discriminatory or hostile treatment by airline or airport personnel since the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

In March, London’s Luton Airport apologized to Israeli author Alon Penzel after he said airport security personnel subjected him to anti-Israel comments and detained him while he was traveling home to Israel.

The airport acknowledged that his experience fell below its standards and said it had introduced enhanced staff training.

In another case, Israeli travelers at London’s Heathrow Airport alleged “degrading treatment” after passengers on an El Al flight were reportedly singled out for additional screening by customs officials, some of whom were wearing pro-Palestinian symbols.

Airlines have also faced allegations of antisemitic conduct. In 2025, a Jewish passenger aboard a JetBlue flight reportedly received a kosher meal marked with the slur “Zionazi,” while another Jewish passenger on an Iberia flight found “Free Palestine” written on a kosher meal tray. Both airlines opened investigations.

That same summer, 50 French Jewish children were removed from a Vueling flight in Spain in an incident that witnesses said began after the group sang in Hebrew.

Vueling denied that religion played any role and said the passengers had been disruptive.