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SPAIN’S transport minister has sparked a diplomatic row after slamming a group of French Jewish children kicked off a flight in Valencia as ‘Israeli brats’.
Oscar Puente’s comments have been condemned by French government ministers Aurore Berge and Benjamin Haddad, just days after France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, contacted the CEO of low-cost Spanish airline Vueling to express his ‘deep concern’ at what had happened.
Last Wednesday, an airport in Valencia kicked 44 children and eight adult off a Vueling flight bound for Paris.
Videos posted on social media show Guardia Civil police officers handcuffing and pinning down a female counsellor.
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In a statement published on X Friday, the airline justified its decision by accusing teenagers of tampering crucial safety equipment despite cabin crew warnings.
The company stated that “the actions of the crew on board were exclusively in response to behaviours that compromised the integrity and safety of the flight as well as passengers, operations, and as a group.”
“The group adopted a highly confrontational attitude, putting flight safety at risk, improperly handling emergency equipment and interrupting mandatory safety demonstrations – repeatedly ignoring the instructions of the cabin crew,” the statement continued.
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There are different accounts of what happened, which has led to accusations of antisemitism being made against Vueling and the Spanish police.
Israel’s minister for diaspora and combating anti-Semitism, Amichai Chikli, took to social media to describe the mass ejection as ‘one of the most serious recent anti-Semitic incidents’.
Mr Chikli said the children were booted off for ‘singing Hebrew songs on the plane,’ and that the cabin crew had claimed ‘Israel is a terrorist state’.
Vueling, the Guardia Civil and some social media reports have denied the accusations. Some of the reports claim that the children were chanting “Death To Arabs.”
Last week, Mr Puente – a key ally of socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez – posted a now-deleted tweet in which the transport minister criticised Spanish conservative politicians for failing to back the airline and instead ‘supporting the Israeli brats’.
The French government was quick to point that the children were French nationals, not Israelis.
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The two ministers issued a joint statement that read: “The French Government firmly condemns comments made by the Spanish Transport Minister equating French citizens who are Jewish to Israeli citizens as if it justified the treatment they were subjected to.”
“We will never tolerate the trivialisation or anti-Semitism”, added the Minister for European Affairs, and Minister for Fighting Discrimination.
The Spanish transport ministry is no stranger to a heated exchange with foreign governments.
Mr Puente was criticized last year for claiming that Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, had abused drugs during his campaign to be elected in 2023.
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