An Israeli diplomat in America was the victim of anti-Semitism this week when he was thrown out of his Uber and verbally abused simply for speaking Hebrew.
Itay Milner, the Deputy Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, said he was heading home on lower Wacker Drive when the driver kicked him out of the vehicle Thursday night.
Milner wrote in a Facebook post, “I just had the worst experience of my life. I was just thrown out of an Uber in the middle of the highway only because I answered my phone in my mother tongue.”
He adds, “Ten minutes into my ride with no prior interaction between the driver and myself, it took only two words in Hebrew to get my driver [to] start yelling at me ‘Get the $#@* out of my car!’”
He continued: “It did not help when I told him that I can’t go out in the middle of the highway. It was like I wasn’t a person for him anymore. When I asked him if it’s because I’m speaking Hebrew he said yes and kept yelling at me to get out. I am not easily intimidated, but that scared me and I ran out of there, walking in the middle of the road.
“I never thought something like this could happen in America, such awful racism. This cannot be tolerated!”
Milner said he contacted Uber and was given a refund.
Uber has reportedly removed the driver’s access to the app during an investigation.
