Ex-Trump Middle East Expert Fumes at Airline Employees For Wearing Plane-Themed Scarves He Mistook For Palestinian Keffiyehs

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Former White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt attacked two airline employees on Wednesday after his mistook their plane-themed scarves for Palestinian keffiyeh.

Greenblatt posted a photo of two United Airlines employees on social media, along with the caption, “Gate agents at EWR [Newark International Airport] wearing scarves which look a lot like a Palestinian keffiyeh. Is there a message @United is trying to promote?”

However, social media users were quick to point out that the scarves were actually airline merchandise patterned with small images of planes and beared little resemblance to the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh — which, while not inherently political, has been worn by some people in the West to express solidarity with Palestine.

https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1727476645357830510

“Dude those are airplanes,” reacted The Independent White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg, while The Nation‘s Jeet Heer tweeted, “Former White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason D. Greenblatt offers some insight into the thinking guiding American foreign policy.”

Despite the obvious mistake, as of writing, Greenblatt has not yet deleted the post, nor has he apologized to the two airline employees targeted in his post.

Greenblatt — who previously served as executive vice president of the Trump Organization — served as former President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations between 2017 and 2019.

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