French holiday camp accuses Vueling of discrimination against Jewish teens
The airline said it had asked the children to leave the Paris-bound plane in the Spanish city of Valencia due to their "disruptive behaviour", but parents condemned what some of them described as an "antisemitic act".
In a statement, Vueling said some passengers "engaged in highly disruptive behaviour and adopted a very confrontational attitude, putting at risk the safe conduct" the flight to Paris-Orly airport.
Advertisement
"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 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.
The Civil Guard corroborated Vueling's statement about a group of 47 minors and their four supervisors, saying the arrested person "refused to get off the plane and obey the officers" but was later released.
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.
Advertisement
The mother said that after the 21-year-old leader of the travelling group tried to stop the Civil Guard from taking the youngsters' phones, "she was tackled to the ground and forcibly taken away in front of the kids, who started screaming".
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 anti-Semitic act against young children who did nothing".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
There is no clear intent to commit genocide in Gaza, law expert says
A growing number of top government officials, NGOs and academics in the West are ready to claim that Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza amounts to genocide. But some law experts have raised alarms about the risks of using the term, which is perceived as "the crime of crimes", without a proper definition or legal proof. They say there is so far no concrete evidence of Israel committing genocide as defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, of which Israel is a signatory. 'Israel is committing the war crime of using hunger as a weapon of war, which is prohibited under international law,' said Stefan Talmon, a prominent international law professor at the University of Bonn. 'But there is a difference between war crime and the crime of genocide.' No clear genocide intent so far First coined by the Jewish-Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, the word 'genocide' is defined under the 1948 Convention as a set of five crimes 'committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.' Those crimes include 'Killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.' The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza started after Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on 7 October 2023 in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage. Fifty hostages are still being held, although fewer than half of them are believed to be alive. Since then, UN agencies have warned that Israel's airstrikes on Gaza, along with a siege of the territory, have resulted in the deaths of more than 60,000 people, the forced displacement of tens of thousands and growing evidence of man-caused mass starvation. In December 2023, South Africa started proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for alleged violations of the 1948 Convention, arguing that 'acts and omissions by Israel ... are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent ... to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.' A year later, Amnesty International became one of the first international NGOs to conclude in a report that 'there is sufficient evidence to believe that Israel's conduct in Gaza following 7 October 2023 amounts to genocide.' More recently, B'Tselem, a prominent Israeli NGO also stated that Israel's policy in the Gaza Strip 'together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack,' led to the conclusion that 'Israel is taking coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.' In a separate interview, genocide and Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov told Euronews that he had labelled Israel's military campaign a genocide in May 2024, when the Israeli army decided to flatten Rafah after ordering its residents to evacuate the city in the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, and moving them to Mawasi – a coastal area with almost no shelter. But for an international law expert and barrister like Talmon, there is no sufficient proof of a clear intent to commit genocide in Israel so far, and it will be 'very difficult' for South Africa or any other country to prove that Israel is committing genocide. 'It's not just that you are killing people as such and you deliberately kill someone,' Talmon said. 'You have to kill the person because you want to destroy the group he is a part of, in whole or in part.' 'That does not necessarily mean that you would have to kill the group in whole, or in part,' Talmon continued. 'We have seen convictions of individuals for genocide where just one person has been killed … You don't need 6 million people dead like the Holocaust to have genocide.' The proof is either 'direct evidence,' he said, like a decision of the Israeli security cabinet which would 'spell out that the cabinet wants to basically exterminate the Palestinian people.' But the ICJ can also require indirect evidence by which 'you may basically infer the intention to destroy in whole or in part from a certain pattern of action.' In addition, he said, there must be 'no other inference than can be drawn from the fact than the intention to destroy.' The example of Srebrenica Talmon pointed to the genocide in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995, which resulted in the systematic execution of more than 8,000 Bosniaks, mostly men and boys. Despite a number of cases of genocide brought against Bosnian Serb military and political leadership for crimes in different parts of the country, the ICJ ruled that it was committed only in Srebrenica. 'The (Bosnian) Serbs separated women and children from men and started, within a short period of time, to kill (thousands of) men of all ages, from 16 to basically 65 or 75, irrespective of whether these were soldiers or whether these were civilians,' he said. 'Now in that situation, the International Court of Justice said: what other explanation can you give for that mass killing within these kind of two days other than to destroy in whole or in part, the Bosnian Muslims in that area and exterminate them?' 'We haven't had any such situation in the Gaza Strip,' Talmon added. Crime against humanity versus genocide Without indisputable, direct or indirect evidence of the intention to destroy, Israel could be prosecuted on charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity, Talmon said. Under UN rules, the term 'war crimes' refers to violations of international humanitarian law 'committed against civilians or enemy combatants during an international or domestic armed conflict." A crime against humanity refers to a series of crimes 'committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack." 'The Israeli action, of course, could also be explained in many other ways,' Talmon said. 'Beginning from the fight against Hamas to rescuing the hostages, it could be by mere brutality, retaliation, vengeance, ethnic cleansing,' he explained. There is a multitude of other explanations for Israeli actions, so it will be very difficult to say because the Israelis are using excessive force, they are driving Palestinians to the south of the Gaza Strip, they are confining them to very specific areas, they are basically reducing the available food and water and medical supplies to them," Talmon continued. "That may all be explained by other motives.' Despite the absence of clear evidence or compliance with the high standards of genocide, Talmon concluded that such a verdict would carry devastating effects for the Israelis, many of whom are survivors or children of survivors of the Holocaust. 'If you find that Israel is committing genocide or that Germany committed genocide, It's not just the present government that will be seen as a génocidaire,' Talmon said, using the French word for perpetrator of genocide. 'It is the whole people," he stated. "The Israelis become perpetrators … The Germans have become perpetrators.' Founded in 1945, the ICJ has issued genocide verdicts in a handful of cases against individuals, and is yet to rule against any country for genocide. Genocide cases in front of international courts are an arduous endeavour, often taking over a decade to see through until a verdict is reached. Israel has vehemently rejected all allegations of a genocidal campaign in Gaza, in turn stating that its actions are meant to disempower and destroy Hamas. It has also repeatedly accused the militant group of intentionally endangering the lives of Palestinians by using them as human shields, while saying that it has done all in its power to prevent civilian losses.
France 24
15 hours ago
- France 24
French cities impose curfews for teens to curb crime
While some experts say that curfews for minors do not reduce crime, one French mayor begs to disagree. "It's become very quiet," said Cedric Aoun, the mayor of Triel-sur-Seine located 35 kilometres (21 miles) west of Paris. The 11 pm to 5 am curfew has been introduced in Triel-sur-Seine for under-18s after a series of incidents involving damage of public property and theft. Aoun said many families have started taking their parental responsibilities more seriously. "Parents are much more careful," he said. More towns in France are enforcing curfews for teenagers irrespective of their mayors' political leanings as authorities seek to respond to youth crime. In the southern city of Nimes, a temporary curfew has been introduced for children under 16 after a spate of urban violence linked to drug trafficking. The southern city of Beziers, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine north of Paris and Villecresnes in the southeastern suburbs of the French capital have adopted similar bans. Last year, six percent of crimes were suspected to have been carried out by teens aged between 13 to 17, according to the interior ministry. More than a third of violent robberies without a weapon were attributed to suspects in that age group. 'No business on the street' But it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the curfews for minors in many places. During a recent nighttime patrol in Triel-sur-Seine, police officers stopped a group of minors who huddled together in a square 45 minutes after the start of the curfew. Some teenagers said they were unaware of the ban. Still, the head of the town's municipal police praised the measure. Anthony Rouet said the curfew "allows us to take preventive action before damage is done". So far his team had mostly been talking to teens about the night-time ban on being in the streets, not issuing them with tickets, he added. But he also acknowledged that, when police did report some teenagers to the judiciary, this had not deterred them from reoffending. "They weren't punished and came back and started vandalising and stealing again," said Rouet. Some parents support the ban. "At 17, you have no business being out on the street" at night, said Mickael Chapparelli, 35. But many think otherwise, another resident said. "Here, parents of most of the children who hang around until 2 am say it's no problem," said the resident, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity. "And when they get into trouble, they say it's not their son." The mayor of Villecresnes, Patrick Farcy, lamented police staffing shortages. They do not respond to calls late at night except during the weekends, and street lighting is turned off in some areas to limit gatherings. He said authorities had reported around 40 violations of the curfew since the beginning of the summer, but not all parents had received the related fines. "Too much time passes between the offence being reported and the fine being issued," Farcy said. 'Psychological' The mayor of Pennes-Mirabeau outside the southern port city of Marseille said the effectiveness of the curfew was hard to estimate. Last year, he temporarily ordered children under 13 off the streets between 11 pm and 6 am, but has not reintroduced the ban this year. The mayor, Michel Amiel, said the effectiveness of the ban was "difficult to quantify." "It is mainly psychological," he added. Rights campaigners argue for more community engagement rather than bans. Nathalie Tehio, head of the French Human Rights League, called for the development of "educational measures" rather than "repressive" bans. Her group has taken legal action against the ban in Triel-sur-Seine. "This is not an effective response," she said. elt-jra-vxm-bdq-as/ah/ach © 2025 AFP
Euronews
19 hours ago
- Euronews
Diplomatic row between Paris and Madrid over Jewish teens escalates
Tensions are escalating between Paris and Madrid following comments by Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente in the case involving the removal of a group of French Jewish teenagers from a flight in Spain. The incident occurred on 23 July, when a group of around 40 teens was removed from a plane at Valencia airport. Last Friday, Oscar Puente posted and then later deleted on the social media platform X, criticising Spanish conservative politicians for allegedly failing to back the airline and instead "supporting the Israeli brats." The post quickly drew ire from the French government, which also denounced the behaviour of Spanish law enforcement officers towards one of the group's adult chaperones. Videos on social media showed police holding the female counsellor on the ground while they handcuffed her. "The French government firmly condemns the comments made by the Spanish Minister of Transport equating French children who were Jewish with Israeli citizens, as if this in any way justified the treatment to which they were exposed," said Benjamin Haddad, Minister for European Affairs and Aurore Bergé, Minister for the Fight against Discrimination. The airline Vueling justified its decision by citing behaviour that allegedly compromised flight safety. In a statement posted on X on Friday, the airline said the teenagers had tampered with oxygen masks and life jackets, despite being warned not to do so by the crew. The situation ultimately led to the involvement of Spanish law enforcement. However, the organiser of the summer camp the youngsters were attending contests this version of events and claims the group was removed "without just cause." A formal complaint is expected to be filed against the airline for "physical and psychological violence and discrimination on the grounds of religion."
