A diplomatic row broke out between France and Spain after Spanish transport minister Óscar Puente referred to a group of French Jewish teenagers as “Israeli brats,” following their forcible removal from a Vueling flight by Spanish police.
The incident occurred on July 23 aboard Vueling Flight V8166 from Valencia to Paris, which included 44 children and eight adults returning from a Jewish summer camp. Spanish police boarded the aircraft, handcuffed the group leader, and removed the entire group. Eyewitness accounts vary, but some of the children were reportedly wearing kippahs.
Puente later deleted the controversial post, but the backlash was immediate. French ministers Aurore Bergé and Benjamin Haddad condemned the remarks and the group’s treatment, accusing Puente of antisemitism. “Equating French children who were Jewish with Israeli citizens, as if this in any way justified the treatment they were subjected to, is unacceptable,” they said.
Murielle Ouknine-Melki, a lawyer for Club Kineret summer camp, said she could see no reason for the group’s expulsion other than their Jewish identity. Both Vueling and Spanish authorities deny any discriminatory motive.
This is not the first controversy involving Vueling, which consumer advocacy groups sued as one of a cluster of misleading ‘greenwashing’ European airlines back in 2023.
