Latest news with #ClubKineret
LeMonde
3 days ago
- LeMonde
France demands explanations from Vueling after French Jewish teenagers were removed from flight
France's foreign minister has called the CEO of Spanish airline Vueling to demand an "explanation" after around 50 French teenagers, all Jewish, were removed from a flight this week, Paris said on Saturday, July 26. 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 behavior." But parents condemned what some described as an "antisemitic act" and alleged that 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, oxygen masks and oxygen cylinders. France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël 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 ministry added that "the same request was made to the Spanish ambassador to France (...) 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 Club Kineret association, which organized the summer camp, announced on Thursday to Agence France-Presse (AFP) its intention to file a complaint against the carrier "for physical and psychological violence and discrimination on the basis of religion," through its lawyer, Julie Jacob. She cited "aggravating circumstances," as some of the children were "under 15 years of age."
Metro
3 days ago
- Metro
Airline denies removing 40 children from flight because they were Jewish
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page An airline has denied it removed a group of 44 French Jewish children because of their identity. Spanish budget carrier Vueling insisted cabin crew were forced to eject a group of 52 passengers due to their 'highly disruptive behaviour' onboard. The children from the Club Kineret camp were returning to Paris after travelling to Valencia. The youth group has said it is has filed a formal complaint the airline, which is part of the group that owns British Airways, after it said cabin crew showed an 'antisemitic' attitude towards them. Video footage which circulated after the incident on Wednesday appeared to show one adult member of the party being detained by Guardia Civil officers on the jetbridge outside the aircraft. An adult member of Club Kinaret, believed to be the director, was videoed being detained by Guardia Civil officers on jetbridge outside the aircraft (Picture: X) Vueling said in a statement that cabin crew had decided to remove the group from the flight due to 'behaviour that compromised the integrity of the flight' (Picture: X) In a statement through its legal representatives, Club Kinaret said: 'The Club Kineret association wishes to formally and categorically deny allegations from Vueling Airlines suggesting that incidents were caused by the minors it was supervising on Vueling Flight VY8186. 'The facts are clear, serious, established and corroborated by multiple testimonies. They describe a scene of rare, unjustified and clearly biased brutality. 44 infants were disembarked from the aircraft, without a valid explanation, on orders of the captain onboard.' 'These children, supervised by 7 adults, had just completed a cultural stay. They were seated in their seats, respectful of the rules and the staff. No incident, no threat, no inappropriate behaviour was reported.' But Vueling said a decision was made to remove the group following behaviour which 'compromised the integrity of the flight', including tampering with emergency equipment and disrupting the safety demonstration. Vueling has denied it removed a group of 50 French Jewish children from a flight because of their religion (Picture: Shutterstock) It further accused some members of the youth group of taking a 'confrontational attitude' and said that 'aggressive' behaviour continued into the terminal after the passengers disembarked from the flight. The airline said in a statement: 'The actions of the on-board staff were solely in response to behaviour that compromised the integrity of the flight, as well as the safety of passengers and the operation as a whole.' '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. At Vueling, we categorically reject any form of discrimination without exception.' A spokesperson for the Guardia Civil said the group was taken off the plane for repeatedly ignoring cabin crew instructions. It added that half the group boarded another flight that evening with another airline, while the rest stayed overnight at a hotel. The Federation of Spanish Jewish Communities said it was 'concerned' about the incident and demanded an explanation from Vueling as to how serious the childrens' behaviour was to be asked to leave the aircraft. It said: 'Airlines have responsibility to guarantee respect and dignity for all passengers, without exception. 'The FCJE believes that these types of incidents, which cause great worry and concern and affect minors, require clear and responsible institutional responses.' Further questions were raised after it transpired that the flight's captain, Ivan Chirivellas, had trained two terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks in 2001. Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente also came under fire for hisr response to the incident, in which he erroneously referred to the French youths as 'Israeli kids'. He wrote on X: 'Are the patriots with Vueling? Those with law and order with aviation safety? Or will they all stick together with the Israeli kids?' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. Arrow MORE: Passengers pin down man who tries to open plane door mid-flight Arrow MORE: Lionesses star Alex Greenwood in relationship with childhood sweetheart who is also ex-Premier League ace Arrow MORE: I tried Heathrow's £3,177 VIP terminal — how the other half fly
Local France
5 days ago
- Local France
French holiday camp accuses Vueling of discrimination against Jewish teens
"We are going to file a complaint for physical and psychological violence, as well as discrimination on the basis of religion," Club Kineret's lawyer Julie Jacob said, adding that those involved were mostly under 15 years old. 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".
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
French holiday camp accuses Vueling of discrimination against Jewish teens
Holiday camp organisers are to file a legal complaint against Spanish airline Vueling over a decision a day earlier to make French Jewish teenagers disembark from a Paris-bound flight, a lawyer said Thursday. "We are going to file a complaint for physical and psychological violence, as well as discrimination on the basis of religion," Club Kineret's lawyer Julie Jacob said, adding that those involved were mostly under 15 years old. 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. "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. 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". ito/ah-imm/jh/dc Solve the daily Crossword
France 24
5 days ago
- France 24
French holiday camp accuses Vueling of discrimination against Jewish teens
"We are going to file a complaint for physical and psychological violence, as well as discrimination on the basis of religion," Club Kineret's lawyer Julie Jacob said, adding that those involved were mostly under 15 years old. 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. "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. 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".
