The student ended up sitting elsewhere, but before the seating episode was finally resolved, a couple of crew members had been called to the scene. As they coaxed, pacified, and insisted with increasing passion that the student take his seat, I was tempted to imagine the feelings he might awaken in them, and vice versa. Jews like him, with their far-reaching religious needs, are a constant source of inconvenience for many secular Israelis. And the secular, with their insensitivity to their own and others' Judaism, are objects of both pity and resentment for many observant Jews. The flight stewards, the student, and the Arab family each had fairly simple requests.
Most people living in Israel do.
Nevertheless, all kinds of resources are scarce, and the requests come into inevitable conflict. Give Israelis a plane cabin's width of space, and there will be territorial disputes. Each party was speaking in a different language, literally and symbolically. Their words seemed to hover in the pressurized cabin without being heard by the others. No, you cannot take someone else's seat.