Swiss Air’s inflight map shows non-existent Arab town in place of Tel Aviv

Swiss Air placed the name of the no longer existent Arab town “Esh Sheikh Muwannis” where Tel Aviv is normally located on its map. 

By: Jack Gold, World Israel News

Swiss International Air Lines flight LX252 from Switzerland to Tel Aviv last month placed the Arabic town “Esh Sheikh Muwannis”on its onboard inflight map to Tel Aviv. The words ‘Tel Aviv’ appeared to float in the heavens above the plane, raising the ire of pro-Israel activists.

Sheikh Muwannis was a small Arab town that once stood where Tel Aviv University stands today. The town has not exited for over 70 years.

The pro-Israel advocacy group Stand With Us posted the incident on Twitter, writing “Seriously Swiss Air?” and calling on its followers to contact Swiss Air and protest. In response, many supporters of the organization called for a boycott of Swiss Air.

Swiss Air apologized “for having caused negative feelings.”

“As a privately owned company, we are politically neutral with no intent to make political statements. Our procedure with this standardized map is to turn it off, which didn’t work accurately on this specific flight,” it explained.

Stand With Us rejected the apology, saying “this is a totally unacceptable response. Take action, your provider politicized this whether you chose or not. Don’t ‘turn it off’ FIX IT.”

Several carriers guilty of similar conduct have locked horns with pro-Israel groups in the past, some even erasing Israel completely from the map.

Although protesters did not note it, Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, does not appear at all on the Swiss Air map.