{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413390", "Lufthansa fined $4 million for discriminating against Jewish passengers in antisemitic incident", "2024-10-15", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), Co-Chair of the House Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, said the $4 million fine levied against Lufthansa today for discriminating against Jewish passengers\u2014including some from Smith\u2019s congressional district\u2014\u201csends a strong message that discrimination and antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society and will not be tolerated.\u201d\n\nThe record fine comes in response to a May 2022 incident when 128 members of the Orthodox Jewish community were denied boarding on a connecting flight in Germany based on the actions of only some of the passengers, even though many did not know each other and were traveling separately.\n\nIn the wake of the incident, Smith wrote a letter to Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Carsten Spohr expressing his \u201cutter disgust\u201d for the way in which the travelers were treated and requested a meeting with the German airline\u2019s top brass to address \u201cseveral vexing questions.\u201d\n\nAt Smith\u2019s request, the Lufthansa CEO met with him and a constituent in Smith\u2019s DC office to hear directly from a victim of the discrimination just two weeks after the antisemitic incident. Lufthansa conducted an investigation, changed policies and continued negotiations with many of the passengers.\n\n\u201cThe rising tide of antisemitism worldwide cannot be overlooked,\u201d said Smith. \u201cTragically, Jewish men, women and children continue to suffer bias, cruelty, hate and violence simply because they are Jewish.\u201d\n\n\u201cSilence is not an option\u2014nor is inaction,\u201d said Smith. \u201cIf our fight against this pernicious form of hatred is to succeed, we must be absolutely clear and bold in word, deed, policies and treatment.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413390"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.953740905970335, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}