Paris demands 'explanation' from airline over removal of Jewish teens
During an incident on Wednesday, the Spanish airline said it had asked the adolescents to leave the plane in the Spanish city of Valencia due to their "disruptive behaviour".
But parents condemned what some described as an "antisemitic act", and alleging the teenagers were forced off the plane after one of them had sung a song in Hebrew.
On Friday, Vueling maintained that its decision was made "solely for safety reasons" because the teens were tampering with life jackets and oxygen masks and oxygen cylinders.
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called Vueling CEO Carolina Martinoli the same day "to express his deep concern about the removal of a group of young French Jews from one of the company's planes," the foreign ministry said.
"An explanation has been requested, in particular to determine whether these French nationals had been subjected to discrimination on the grounds of their religion," the foreign ministry said.
"The same request was made to the Spanish ambassador to France," the foreign ministry added.
"Ms Carolina Martinoli assured him that a thorough internal investigation was underway and that the findings would be shared with the French and Spanish authorities," the ministry said.
The travel association responsible for organising the trip said it would file a complaint alleging religious discrimination.
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Yahoo
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Alan Dershowitz says he's suing Martha's Vineyard vendor for refusing to sell him pierogi
If there's one thing that can be counted on every summer, it is that Alan Dershowitz will make a loud public stink about the social angst he suffers at Martha's Vineyard. This time around, the former Jeffrey Epstein lawyer is crying foul that he was refused pierogi at a farmer's market, claiming he was discriminated against due to his political beliefs and that he will be suing the vendor for violating his rights. Meanwhile, a local resident who captured Dershowitz being confronted by local police over the incident tells The Independent that he stepped in to stop the famed defense attorney from continuing to harass the vendor, who reached out to thank him later and even offered him some free pierogi for his troubles. 'I'm somewhat fearless when it comes to facing these types of bullies,' the resident said. Dershowitz, who has been in the news recently amid the uproar over the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files, took to his social media accounts Wednesday night to loudly complain about the latest shunning he'd experienced at the summer playground for the ultra-wealthy. 'Bigoted vendor @ Martha's Vineyard Farmer's Market refused to sell to me for political reasons. I'm suing,' he tweeted while promoting an upcoming broadcast of his online show on Rumble, a right-wing-friendly alternative to YouTube. During his Rumble show that evening, Dershowitz reiterated that he would be filing a lawsuit against the business Good Pierogi, making sure to toss in a bit of criticism about their product for good measure. 'There was the pierogi place,' Dershowitz said. 'They're Ukrainian, Russian delicacies. And I had gone there a few times before, and I bought the pierogi. They were OK. They were not my grandmother's pierogi, but they were OK.' He went on to claim that after he asked for six pierogi, the vendor told him they wouldn't sell to him because they 'don't approve' of his politics, who he has represented legally in the past and who he supports politically. 'The clear implication was that he opposed me because I defended Donald Trump and because I was a Zionist,' he added. 'I think that's illegal.' Dershowitz also claimed that he wore a 'Proud American Zionist' t-shirt the prior week he was at the market and it led the vendor to look at him 'strangely,' even though he acknowledged that the two did not speak at that time. In a video posted to Instagram on Wednesday by resident Chris Hulbert, Dershowitz could be seen speaking to a West Tisbury police officer about the incident. Throughout the exchange, Dershowitz could be heard griping that the vendor 'won't sell to me' while the officer pulled the emeritus Harvard Law professor to the side to talk about the issue. With Dershowitz also taping the conversation on his phone, the officer disagreed with Dershowitz that Good Pierogi was violating Massachusetts law because he understood that private establishments had the right of refusal. While the officer added that the former Trump impeachment attorney could pursue a complaint against the vendor through 'civil means,' he also asked for Dershowitz to stay away from the vendor and the respect that it was private property. Dershowitz, on the other hand, continued to debate that the vendor did not have the right to discriminate against him based on his personal politics – all while pointing out that he would be posting the footage online. In his Instagram post, Hulbert claimed that he stopped the celebrity lawyer 'from harassing a vendor who wouldn't serve him pierogi at the farmer's market on Martha's Vineyard,' noting that he also 'made a statement to the police.' Hulbert further asserted that the police officer had threatened to cite Dershowitz for trespassing if he bothered other vendors, insisting that three others at the market also refused to serve the attorney. 'The police took a [statement] from me. No one else wanted to do it because he sues everyone here. Was talking about suing the vendor. Total scum!' Hulbert wrote, prompting Good Pierogi to reply 'thank you so much' on his Instagram post. In an interview with The Independent, Hulbert spoke about his interaction with Dershowitz, noting that he wasn't initially aware that it was the celebrated lawyer when he first happened upon him. 'He was already rejected by the vendor, and then started b*tching and complaining and videotaping his statements to try to dissuade people from patronizing the vendor, and I walked up and I had no idea who he was,' Hulbert said. 'So his statement was that because of his political views, they weren't serving him.' 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After Dershowitz first began griping in 2018 that he'd become ostracized by the Martha's Vineyard social elite, the New York Times ran no less than four separate stories about his complaints – including an interview with the longtime Harvard Law professor. In fact, the Times' executive editor admitted that the Gray Lady had done too many Dershowitz stories. 'We are trying to increase our coverage of cranky white guys,' Dean Baquet joked to The Daily Beast at the time. 'Seriously, it's a big place and different desks made their own plans. We should have coordinated better and done fewer.' Since then, Dershowitz has continued to publicly fume about being 'blackballed' on the island, which has included book fairs canceling his appearances, invitations to cocktail parties drying up and comedian Larry David 'screaming' at him at a Chilmark store. 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The Paris office of Israeli airline El Al is vandalized with graffiti
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