Although he is of Palestinian heritage, Sami Habbas has lived in the US since he was 3. Somehow, a credit card company had him on file as “Palestinian Bomber”, which is how he was addressed on the envelope, in the letter, and on the phone when he called to ask what was going on:
When he called the company, JPMorgan Chase & Co., provided his ZIP code and invitation number, two operators said to him: “Yes, Mr. Bomber, what can we do for you?”
There is inherent humor in this–the phone operators not noticing the name “Palestinian Bomber”, for one thing (reminds me of this story)–but ultimately it’s not cool. It would seem that Mr. Habbas was added to a list somewhere by someone who was aware of his heritage. A neighbor? It’s creepy to think about.