Israeli diplomat in US booted from Uber for speaking Hebrew

An Israeli diplomat in Chicago said he was thrown out of an Uber on Thursday night when the driver heard him speaking Hebrew.

Itay Milner, Israel’s deputy consul general in Chicago, posted on Facebook that it was one of the worst experiences of his 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 posted.

He wrote that the driver also swore at him as he forced him out.

“10 minutes into my ride and 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,'” Milner wrote. “When I asked him if it’s because I’m speaking Hebrew he said yes and kept yelling at me to get out.”

According to a screenshot he shared on his Facebook page, the driver’s name was Yuva, and he had a high 4.89 rating.

“I never thought something like this could happen in America, such awful racism,” Milner wrote, “This cannot be tolerated!”

Uber responded to Milner’s complaint, saying the company does not tolerate discrimination, and had suspended the driver pending an investigation.

“Uber does not tolerate any form of discrimination. We are reaching out to the rider to extend our support for the experience he described here,” the company said, according to local station CBS Chicago News. “As soon as we were made aware of this, we removed the driver’s access from the app as we look further into this.”