633 THIRD AVENUE, 21ST FLOOR

NEW YORK, NY 10017

(212) 339 6995

Honorable John F. Kerry

United States Secretary of State
United States Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
April 25, 2016
Dear Secretary Kerry,
We write to thank you for the clarity of your comments concerning Carnival Cruise Lines policy
with regard to Cuban-born travelers on cruises making stops in Cuba because of the mandates of
Cuban law.
During your visit to Miami-Dade College on April 21, 2016, you told the media that "Carnival
needs to not discriminate and that [t]he United States government will never support, never
condone discrimination. And the Cuban government should not have the right to enforce on us a
policy of discrimination against people who have the right to travel." You then call[ed] on the
government of Cuba to change that policy, and to recognize that if they want full relations and a
normal relationship with the United States, they have to live by international laws, not
exclusively by Cuban laws."
We hope you will extend those same sentiments to a parallel issue of critical importance: the
intentional discrimination by Kuwait Airways (KAC)a wholly owned instrumentality of the
State of Kuwaitagainst Israeli nationals.
You may be familiar with the complaint brought to the U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT) on behalf of Eldad Gatt, an Israeli national who attempted to purchase (and was denied) a
ticket on a KAC flight from JFK airport in New York to London Heathrow. After a lengthy
judicial process and an administrative appeal, DOT found, in a final agency determination, that
the airline was operating in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws in refusing to admit
passengers on U.S.-based flights because of their national origin.
In response to this DOT determination, KAC chose to flout the law, as well as the privilege of
operating in the United States. Instead of coming into compliance with the law and admitting
Israelis onboard KAC flights, the airline chose to cancel entirely its route from JFK to London
(the only route it was operating to a non-Arab League destination). KAC continues to operate out
of JFK, availing itself of the benefits and privileges of doing business in the United States, but
now only operates flights to (or through) Kuwait. Apparently, DOT will allow the airline to
continue the practice of refusing to admit Israelis on these flights, because Kuwaiti law (like the
laws of many other Arab League states) does not recognize Israeli passports as legitimate travel
documents and Israeli travelers would be denied entrance upon landing.

In other words, Israeli persons traveling from U.S. origins, as well as Israeli-Americans without
American passports, are still facing unlawful national origin discrimination because of a
transportation carrier applying discriminatory foreign laws in its U.S. operations.
We applaud Carnivals ultimate decision to admit Cuban-born individuals the same as all other
passengers, as well as the cruise lines efforts to work with the Cuban government to change the
problematic law and find ways to eliminate the potential for discrimination. Unfortunately, in its
capacity as a parastatal entity, Kuwait Airways is not in a position to negotiate the way Carnival
did on behalf of disenfranchised travelers. Without an alternative option, we believe it is the
responsibility of the U.S. government to refuse to make U.S. institutions of international travel
available to carriers denying access to travelers based on protected class, and, consistent with
your comments in the context of the Carnival/Cuba issue, we hope that you will call on the
government of Kuwait to change [its] policy, and to recognize that if they want full relations and
a normal relationship with the United States, they have to live by international laws, not
exclusively by Kuwaiti laws. That would mean that KAC must admit all U.S. travelers on KAC
flights operating out of U.S. airports, no matter their national origin, and no matter the
destination, or KAC must lose the privilege of conducting business here.
We are encouraged to see such a staunch commitment from the U.S. Secretary of State toward
the enforcement of U.S. anti-discrimination laws to protect people who have the right to travel.
Like Cuban nationals and Cuban-Americans, Israeli nationals and Israeli-Americans should
undeniably be guaranteed the same protections.
We urge you to publicly extend your support to this community of U.S. persons and international
travelers facing discrimination under Kuwaiti law, just as you did so vigorously for those facing
discrimination under Cuban law.
Sincerely,

Michael W. Schwartz
Chairman
The Lawfare Project

Brooke Goldstein
Director
The Lawfare Project

cc: Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations