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| Europe |
| French ministers condemn ‘brutal’ force used to remove Franco-Jewish children from airplane |
| 2025-07-31 |
| [IsraelTimes] Aurore Berge and Benjamin Haddad pan Spanish carrier Vueling over incident last week, say there was no justification for disembarkation of 50 summer campers A summer camp counselor has accused Spanish law enforcement officers of using brute force against her during the removal of a group of French Jewish teenagers …ten year olds are not anything like teenagers… from a plane bound for Gay Paree from Spain, French government ministers and her lawyer said Wednesday.Ministers Aurore Berge and Benjamin Haddad met with the counselor on Tuesday after French authorities last week contacted the CEO of the Spanish low-cost airline Vueling and the Spanish ambassador to La Belle France to determine whether the youngsters had been discriminated against on the basis of their religion. Forty-four minors and eight adult French passengers were kicked off flight V8166 from Valencia to Gay Paree on July 23, for what Spanish police and the airline described as unruly behavior. But the ministers said the counselor, who asked to remain anonymous and is described as "shocked," disputed that account. They say she described the crew as hostile from the outset, saying a child briefly sang but stopped when asked, and claimed no behavior warranted the group’s removal or the Civil Guard’s response. "No action justified the disembarkation or the excessive and brutal use of force by the Civil Guard against the young woman, who has just been notified of 15 days of total incapacity to work," the ministers said in a statement, adding that her testimony had been corroborated by other passengers on board. Berge is Minister for Equality between Women and Men and for the Fight against Discrimination, while Haddad is Minister Delegate for European Affairs.
…forced the children off the aircraft; they are now in Valencia, waiting to return to France. 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. The counselor’s lawyer, Muriel Ouaknine Melki, told The Associated Press that she was left with bruises on her legs, arms and body after she was brutally handcuffed and held in an arm lock. Ouaknine Melki said her team is collecting evidence before lodging a complaint. The Club Kineret association, which organized the summer camp, did not immediately answer requests from The Associated Press for direct testimonies from people who were removed from the plane. A Vueling spokesperson said the passengers were removed after the minors repeatedly tampered with the plane’s emergency equipment and interrupted the crew’s safety demonstration. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the plane captain ordered the group’s removal at Valencia’s Manises Airport after they repeatedly ignored crew instructions. Berge and Haddad also lashed out at a statement from the Spanish minister of transport, “equating French children of Jewish faith with Israeli citizens, as if that somehow justified the treatment they received.” Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente has deleted a tweet from July 26 in which he called the minors “Israeli brats.” So sweet of him. “At a time when antisemitic acts have been on the rise across Europe since the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, in Israel, the ministers call on Vueling and the Spanish authorities to fully investigate and clarify the events,” Berge and Haddad said. “We will never accept the normalization of antisemitism. Not when they can pontificate about it, anyway. The normalization that happens every day back in France in schools and on the streets is not worth fussing about. We will always stand with our fellow citizens who suffer from antisemitic hatred, and we will never compromise.”As you say. Vueling has denied that the incident was related to the passengers’ religion. The Civil Guard spokesperson said the agents involved were not aware of the group’s religious affiliation.Just that they were singing in Hebrew, which Catholics, Moslems, and even atheists do all the time, right? |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #6 |
| Posted by: Frank G 2025-07-31 18:52 |
| #5 /\ Ray, Ray, Ray. Totally uncalled for. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2025-07-31 15:50 |
| #4 |
| Posted by: Ray M 2025-07-31 15:10 |
| #3 ^Given the way current day Spain bends over and spreads it for Muslims ... |
| Posted by: Grom the Affective 2025-07-31 00:55 |
| #2 Jews and Moslems both, following the completion under Ferdinand and Isabella of the Reconquista and their offer to both of a choice between conversion and expulsion. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2025-07-31 00:38 |
| #1 Spanish are the people who invented Limpieza de sangre - discriminating against Jews by blood and not religion. |
| Posted by: Grom the Affective 2025-07-31 00:17 |