Plane crew allegedly called Israel a 'terrorist state' after children sang in Hebrew
Around 50 French Jewish children and their camp leader were removed from a Vueling Airlines flight in Valencia on Wednesday evening, in what some witnesses described as an antisemitically motivated incident.
Footage from the scene showed the camp leader, a 21-year-old woman, being held on the ground, handcuffed and arrested after she reportedly was beaten by police officers.
Police also allegedly confiscated her phone, only releasing her after she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the incident.
Commenting on the report of the forced signing of a non-disclosure agreement, Seth Frantzman, Security Analyst at the Jerusalem Post commented, “Does this seem like something that police can require? Don’t people have rights, seems like a lot more information is needed. This requires media focus and probably a political or legal inquiry to know the full story.”
The group was on the way back to Paris from Valencia. According to media reports and witnesses, the children aged between 10-15 years began singing Hebrew songs prior to takeoff.
The mother of one of the children told i24 News that after being asked to stop, the children didn’t continue, but police officers boarded the plane and ordered the group to exit anyway.
Another mother, Karine Lamy, told Ynet News that her son was threatened by the staff after he sang in Hebrew. “They told him, ‘If you continue, we’ll call the police,’” she said.
Many of the children reportedly wore traditional Jewish religious garb, like kippahs (skullcaps) and tzitzit (tassels).
In a post on 𝕏, Israel’s Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli claimed that airline crew had called Israel a “terrorist state,” a claim later confirmed by witnesses.
“In line with Hamas’s campaign of lies echoed by Al Jazeera, Haaretz, and others, we are seeing numerous severe antisemitic incidents recently; this is one of the most serious,” Chikli wrote.
Vueling denied accusations of antisemitism, claiming that its staff acted after the behavior of the Jewish group “compromised the integrity of the flight” and endangered the passengers.
The children were “engaged in highly disruptive behavior and adopted a very confrontational attitude, putting at risk the safe conduct of the flight,” the airline claimed, adding they “mishandled emergency equipment and actively disrupted the mandatory safety demonstration” and ignored “multiple warnings,” causing the staff to alert the police.
The airline further claimed that the group leader’s arrest was due to her “violent attitude.”
According to Ynet, police told the children to leave their phones on the ground to prevent them from filming. When the camp leader protested, the police handcuffed and arrested her.
The group was later told that “noise” was the official reason for their removal.
The Foreign Ministry later announced that most of the group had either reached their destination or boarded alternative flights, after they were stranded in Valencia for hours.
The Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Madrid “maintained continuous contact” with authorities at the airport following the incident, the ministry said.
“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 children are in shock,” said Lamy. “It feels like we’ve gone back to 1939. This is a blatant act of antisemitism against minors who did nothing wrong.”
“Vueling didn’t even offer an alternative flight. They abandoned them. A 21-year-old woman was handcuffed because children were singing. We’ve returned to the darkest days of the war. And I’m not even talking about the emotional trauma this caused our kids.”
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
