Kuwait Airways airplane
Kuwait Airways airplaneiStock

Germany's foreign ministry said Friday that it would press Kuwait about a law that prevented its national airline, Kuwait Airways, from transporting an Israeli citizen on a flight originating in Frankfurt, The Associated Press reported.

Deputy foreign minister Michael Roth was quoted as having told Die Welt newspaper that Germany's ambassador has been asked to raise the issue with Kuwaiti authorities.

On Thursday, a court in Frankfurt ruled that Kuwait Airways acted appropriately when it refused to carry an Israeli passenger who had already booked a flight, after the airline learned that the man held an Israeli passport.

The court found that the airline could not be held responsible for its refusal to carry the Israeli passenger over his citizenship in the Jewish state.

The Kuwaiti government maintains a boycott of Israel, the court noted in its ruling, highlighting that the airline could have faced sanctions domestically if it carried Israeli citizens.

Roth said Friday, "It is incomprehensible to me that in today's Germany a passenger cannot board a plane simply because of his nationality."

In 2015, Kuwait Airways nixed its route between London’s Heathrow Airport and JFK Airport in New York, after U.S. officials demanded the airline accept Israeli customers following a complaint by Israeli passenger Eldad Gatt.

Gatt had informed the Department of Transportation that Kuwait Airways had refused to sell him a ticket after the airline became aware of his Israeli citizenship.

A year later, Kuwait Airways was forced to close routes between European cities, following a series of legal challenges by the Lawfare Project against the airline’s policy of barring Israeli citizens.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)