French authorities are investigating whether a group of young French citizens was removed from a Spain-to-Paris flight this week due to their Jewish identity. The airline, Vueling, has denied the allegation, as per France24.Around 50 Jewish summer campers from France were removed from a plane at Valencia Airport in Spain on Wednesday evening after a dispute with the airline staff. The youths were returning to Paris from a trip to Spain and are members of Kineret Camp.As per the airlines, they “engaged in highly disruptive behavior and adopted a very confrontational attitude, putting at risk the safe conduct of the flight,” reports Times of Israel. The group reportedly “mishandled emergency equipment and actively disrupted the mandatory safety demonstration” and ignored “multiple warnings,” prompting the crew to summon security, said the airlines. Their supervisor, reportedly a 21-year-old woman, was detained by the security. By Thursday afternoon, the Israeli foreign ministry reported that most of the group arrived at their destination while the remaining passengers departed on a different flight.“Israel, the foreign ministry, and Israeli missions around the world will continue to act and provide assistance to Israelis and Jews in distress wherever they may be,” the ministry said and emphasised that the Israeli embassy in Madrid, as well as the foreign ministry, “maintained continuous contact” with the airport authorities after the incident.France’s ministry for Europe and foreign affairs stated on Saturday that it requested more information to “determine whether these individuals had been discriminated against on the basis of their religion,” reports France24. A similar appeal was also made to the Spanish ambassador in France. “Ms. Martinoli assured Mr. Barrot that a thorough internal investigation was underway and that its findings would be shared with the French and Spanish authorities,” said the ministry. Some Israeli media reported that the removal of the group from the plane was due to their religious affiliation, a claim echoed by an Israeli minister online. However, Spain’s civil guard stated that the group consisted of French nationals and were not aware of their religious background, reports France24. “The officers were not aware of the religion of the disembarked people at any point during the operation,” the civil guard stated, reports the Times of Israel.“The removal of the children and their luggage from the plane is a purely antisemitic act,” said Kineret Camp through a message, as per Enfoque Judio, a Spanish Jewish site. “We are initiating proceedings against the airline, of which we will keep you informed.”
