REPORT: Couscous salad aboard Virgin Atlantic Airlines turns into social media war

According to a BBC report, a salad on the airline’s menu described as, “Inspired by the flavors of Palestine,” breaks out into an Israeli-Palestinian proxy war on Twitter.

By TAMAR BEN-OZER

 

After the airline Virgin Atlantic described a couscous-style salad on its menu as “inspired by the flavors of Palestine,” pro-Israel activists took to social media and called for a boycott of the airline, according to a report by the BBC.

The airline agreed to remove the terms, but when the news broke on February 11 it outraged pro-Palestinian activists and sparked a wave of online reactions.

Twitter Screen Shot

The (pro-Palestinian – ed) website Electronic Intifada reported about the removal of the word “Palestinian”, and twitter users moved forward and called for a boycott of the airline.

An airline spokesperson told the BBC that “We’d like to reassure all customers that our sole intention was to bring new flavors onboard, and never to cause offense through the naming or renaming of the dish.”

Apparently, they originally labeled the dish “Palestinian” because they assumed most Westerners would not recognize the name of the dish’s main ingredient, maftoul.

In December, celebrity chef Rachael Ray sparked another Israeli-Palestinian twitter war after she posted a picture of hummus and stuffed grape leaves with the caption “Israeli nite.”

 

View original The Jerusalem Post publication at:
http://www.jpost.com/International/Couscous-based-Israeli-Palestinian-proxy-war-breaks-out-on-Virgin-Atlantic-542582?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter