A disgruntled former employee of the Israeli airline El Al has created a diplomatic crises between Israel and South Africa.
It all began with a soft-spoken South African aggrieved over the alleged non-payment of a bonus by his former employer, the Israeli airliner El Al.
Fast forward many months and the South African government has deported an Israeli diplomat and reportedly threatened the expulsion of all El Al security officials in the country following claims that they are Israeli intelligence agents.
What happened?
Jonathan Garb was employed by the Israeli airline as a security guard and profiler, trained in Israel and tasked with screening passengers attempting to board El Al’s direct flight between Johannesburg and Tel Aviv. After 19 years with the airline, he was fired, allegedly after he filed a complaint with the South African Department of Labor over a financial bonus Mr. Garb claims he was entitled to.
Michael Bagraim, a well-known South African lawyer and the national chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, took on Mr. Garb’s case against El Al for wrongful dismissal.
Then the former El Al security guard contacted Carte Blanche, a South African investigative television series, claiming that the airline’s policy was to profile passengers based on race and religion and offering evidence that its security personnel were actually empl… >>>
