France to investigate whether Jewish teens were removed from Spanish flight due to antisemitism

France has announced that it will investigate whether antisemitism was the motivating factor behind the recent forceful removal of dozens of Jewish French teens from a Spanish Vueling flight en route from Valenica to Paris. 

The Foreign Ministry in Paris revealed Saturday that French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot had personally contacted Vueling CEO Carolina Martinoli to express his “deep concern” over the forceful removal of Jewish French teenagers from the flight. The top French diplomat also requested additional information to determine “whether the minors were discriminated against because of their religion.” The French government reportedly made a similar request to the Spanish ambassador in Paris.

There are contradictory accounts of the controversial incident onboard the Spanish flight. The Jewish teens argued that they were removed from the plane after singing Hebrew songs. The Spanish airline initially claimed that the Jewish teens were unruly and removed because they allegedly disrupted security onboard. Others claimed that the teens chanted inflammatory chants without elaborating. The group was asked to leave the plane. The situation escalated when Spanish Police arrested the 21-year-old female head of the Jewish travel group. She was later released after being forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement with Spanish authorities. The group returned to France on Thursday. 

The CEO of the Spanish airline company reportedly assured the French foreign minister that the company had already launched an internal probe of the incident and promised to share its findings with both Spanish and French authorities. 

The Spanish Civil Guard claims that it was not aware of the group’s Jewish background during the incident, adding that the plane’s captain had ordered the removal of the teens from the flight. 

It was recently revealed that the pilot on the Spanish flight, Iván Chirivella Cruz, unknowingly trained two of the 9/11 terrorist hijackers. However, the Spanish low-cost airline company defended the captain on the flight. 

“Over his 19-year career at Vueling, he has accumulated more than 12,500 flight hours, operating routes connecting over 30 countries.” 

“In addition to his role as an airline captain, Iván Chirivella – like many pilots – also works as an instructor for aviation professionals at an independent flight school. In this capacity, he has trained more than 100 pilots from around the world in flight operations,” the airline company added. 

The Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Madrid announced that they “maintained continuous contact” with Spanish authorities following the controversial incident. 

“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 foreign ministry in Jerusalem stated. 

Israel’s Diaspora Minister Amichai Chickli condemned the incident, which he blamed on antisemitism. 

“The Vueling airline crew said that Israel is a terrorist state and forced the children off the aircraft; they are now in Valencia, waiting to return to France,” Chikli said in a message on social media following the incident. 

Spain has emerged as one of Israel’s most vocal critics in Europe, and levels of antisemitism in the country are among the highest in Western Europe. Following the flight incident, the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities expressed concern and called on Vueling Airlines to provide documentation of what occurred on the controversial flight.