A passenger was expelled from the plane after anti-Semitic attacks and insults

The argument started after an employee asked the passenger to sit down. After a short discussion, he ended up complying, but called the flight attendant “Kiki” (pronounced kaiki) twice.

The term used is considered highly derogatory and is used to insult and demean people who belong to the Jewish faith or race. According to the American Jewish Committee, the term may have originated from the Yiddish word for circle, “kikel,” in reference to the way Jewish immigrants signed their entry forms to the United States: a circle instead of an X, which Jews associated with the Christian cross. Immigration officials described those who signed the circular forms as “kikel”, eventually shortened to “keke”.

The man shouts in the video: “Look, most of the people here are white. I'm trying to get back to my country, and you all made it difficult for me to get to my country.”

He then gets up again and confronts another man in the aisle who encourages him to get off the plane. The confrontation escalated when he accused the other passenger of touching him. That's when the fight turned physical, and the accused passenger put him in a headlock. He shouted, “Now, put your hands down and don't touch anyone.”

The passengers identified themselves as police officers and removed the man from the plane. “I'm a police officer,” a woman in a backwards hat says as she approaches the couple, to which the man in blue replies, “Me too.” He told the handcuffed passenger, “Turn around and walk,” and forced him down the aisle. The woman wearing the hat and a third passenger help him get off the plane.

The man was arrested on charges of “disorderly intoxication” and two counts of assault. The information was confirmed by the Tampa International Airport Police Department to the Philadelphia Inquirer.