London Luton Airport will introduce “enhanced staff training” to ensure staff treat all passengers — including Jewish and Israeli travelers — with “professionalism, equality and respect,” after an Israeli author complained he was subjected to antisemitic discrimination.

The airport, one of the four major airports serving London, also issued an apology on February 27 to the passenger, Alon Penzel, the author of “Testimonies Without Boundaries: Israel: October 7th, 2023,” a book documenting the horrors of the Hamas massacre in raw, first-person testimonies.

In November 2024, Penzel traveled to the United Kingdom to speak about his book at the House of Lords in the British Parliament. He had already passed Luton’s security checks for his return flight to Tel Aviv on November 18 when he was stopped by a security officer.

Penzel was carrying a placard promoting his book and wearing a sweatshirt bearing the words “End Jew Hatred.” The placard was too large to fit in his suitcase, so he carried it facing his body so it would be difficult to read, he said.

“But the officer saw the name of my book on the placard and started accusing me,” Penzel told The Times of Israel. According to Penzel, the officer said the October 7 attack was “only one incident since the illegal occupation began” and warned that the sign could be “considered offensive to passengers in the airport.”

The situation escalated when the staff member called other airport security and police officers, who detained Penzel, took his........

© The Times of Israel