Uber Driver Threw Out Israeli Diplomat From Cab For Speaking Hebrew

An Israeli diplomat took to Facebook on Thursday to share “one the worst experiences” of his life — being kicked out of an Uber cab after he spoke in Hebrew, his mother tongue.

Itay Milner, Israel’s deputy consul general in Chicago, wrote the incident occurred he was in a cab in the middle of a highway when he received a call. He had barely spoken a few words in Hebrew when the driver started screaming at him to get out of the vehicle.

“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 f--- out of my car,'” Milner wrote. “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 added.

Along with the post, Milner added screenshots of the car’s license plate as well as the information about the driver. The name of the driver was Yuva and he had a 4.89 rating on the ride-sharing application.

According to CBS Chicago, a spokeswoman for Uber released the following statement regarding the incident: “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. As soon as we were made aware of this, we removed the driver’s access from the app as we look further into this.”

The incident comes days after CNN published a report after conducting an extensive investigation, which uncovered more than 100 accusations of sexual assault against Uber drivers. Of the 103 accusations that CNN could verify, 31 ended in convictions for the drivers. The report added there might have been more unreported crimes of a similar nature.

In a majority of examples, it was seen victims of sexual harassment tend to be intoxicated. This was particularly concerning as the ride-sharing service built their brand on safely dropping off drunk passengers at their destinations, actively encouraged people to use the service as an alternative after a night out, instead of the driving under influence.

Hence the report was in direct conflict of Uber’s promotion slogan — a "safe ride home."

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said cracking down on sexual assault is a "new priority for us. … It is a priority that I expect to remain a priority for the foreseeable future."