Scott McConnell wrote recently that because of the special relationship, we have gotten a lot of really bad ideas in our country from the Israelis, like occupying Arab lands and Islamophobia. Well, this is from the Washington Post, reported by Tara Bahrampour. Notice the euphemistic headline, “Muslims criticize handling of Israelis’ stay at D.C. hotel”. What does that mean?
Muslim employees of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington said they felt discriminated against after being barred over the weekend from floors where an Israeli delegation was staying, a Muslim advocacy group said.
One hotel worker whose duties involve going to all the hotel’s floors said he was preparing for his shift Friday when his supervisor told him to steer clear of the eighth and ninth floors, where Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his delegation had booked rooms.
“I said, ‘Why?'” said the worker, who is Muslim and wanted to remain unidentified to protect his job. He said his supervisor told him, “They’re Israelis there, and they don’t want no face-to-face with Muslims.”..
“I don’t care about Israel. To me, it’s just another country,” he said. “I work for [the hotel] 12, 14 hours a day, and they profile me like I’m a criminal, like I’m going to harm them. I’m like, ‘If I’m going to harm them, why would you keep me in your hotel even one day?’”
In a similar case in 2004, a Muslim security guard at the Madison Hotel was told to stay away from the 10th floor while an Israeli delegation was there.
