French holiday camp accuses Vueling of discrimination against Jewish teens

Holiday camp organisers vowed to file a legal complaint against Spanish airline Vueling over the expulsion of French Jewish teenagers from a Paris-bound flight, a lawyer said Thursday.
The airline said it had asked the children to leave the plane in the Spanish city of Valencia due to their disruptive behaviour, but parents condemned what some of them described as an antisemitic act.
We are going to file a complaint for physical and psychological violence, as well as discrimination on the basis of religion, camp organiser Club Kineret's lawyer Julie Jacob said, adding that those involved were mostly under 15 years old.
In a statement, Vueling said some passengers engaged in highly disruptive behaviour and adopted a very confrontational attitude, putting at risk the safe conduct of the flight to Paris-Orly airport.
We categorically deny any suggestion that our crew's decision related to the religion of the passengers involved. This decision was taken solely to ensure the safety of all passengers, it said.
This group mishandled emergency equipment and actively disrupted the mandatory safety demonstration, repeatedly ignoring instructions from cabin crew, Vueling added.
The holiday camp association Kineret, however, said it formally and categorically denied Vueling's version of events.
The crew requested the intervention of the Civil Guard police force, which decided to disembark the group to prioritise the safety of the rest of the passengers, Vueling said.
Once at the terminal, the group's behaviour continued to be aggressive. Some individuals displayed a violent attitude, leading to the arrest of one person, Vueling said.
- Passenger arrested -
One of the minors on the flight, 17-year-old Samson, told AFP by telephone that the group had taken their seats on the plane calmly.
One of my friends shouted a word in Hebrew because he was still a bit in holiday-camp mood, he said, adding: Perhaps he said it too loudly.
Flight staff then warned that they would alert police if it happened again, he said. We immediately stopped making noise, Samson said.
The Civil Guard said it had removed 44 minors and eight adults from the plane, saying the arrested person refused to get off the plane and obey the officers but was later released.
The officers were not aware of the religion of the disembarked people at any point during the operation, the Civil Guard said in a statement.
Parents said the teenagers were forced off the plane after one of them had sung a song in Hebrew.
A mother whose 17-year-old son was on the flight told AFP on condition of anonymity that the group was returning home from a two-week summer camp.
She said she could not see what could have justified the incident, which affected children as young as 12 and 13. They were disembarked like dogs, she said.
Karine Lamy, the mother of one of the children, told Israeli television channel i24NEWS that it was an antisemitic act against young children who did nothing.
Kineret said the police action was brutal and unjustified and clearly marked by bias.
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(2025/07/25 17:29)