A Pedro Sánchez minister insults Jewish minors as he never does with criminals

Pedro Sánchez's leftist government has once again portrayed itself this week in a possible case of antisemitism in Spain.

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A group of French Jewish teenagers are removed from a Vueling plane

On July 23, news broke that 50 French Jewish teenagers were removed from a Vueling airline plane at Valencia Airport. The teenagers, accompanied by their counselors, were returning to their country after attending a camp run by the French association Club Kineret in Spain. The digital newspaper Enfoque Judío reported that the group "was forced to leave a commercial Vueling flight after singing traditional Hebrew songs before takeoff, causing the whole situation to escalate into an altercation with the crew".

They took away their cell phones to delete any videos they had recorded

Karine Lamy, one of the children's mothers, has reported a case of antisemitism: "They board the plane. They sit down, and one of the children starts singing a song in Hebrew, but well, just like that, he starts singing". After a warning from the crew, the children calmed down, but finally the Civil Guard appeared and evacuated the minors and the adults accompanying them. One of the most surprising details of what happened is the following published by Enfoque Judío:

After the forced disembarkation, the group was held in the rear aisle of the plane. "There, they ask all the children to take out their cell phones and put them on the floor so they can delete any videos they might have recorded," Lamy said. The principal objected, replying: "No, don't touch my children. You don't have the right to take their phones. That's prohibited."

Lamy contó que al requerir los agentes los teléfonos, la directora empezó a protestar y que los Policía le dijeron que "si no podemos tocar los teléfonos, la arrestamos a usted". Y ahí mismo la agarraron con fuerza, la tiraron al suelo y le pusieron las esposas.

A monitor of that group was treated like a criminal by the Civil Guard

The video of the director's arrest, treated as if she were a criminal, went viral on social media, and was even published by the Israeli minister Amichai Chikli, who considers what happened to be an act of antisemitism:

The woman who was arrested and beaten is the director of the Kinneret summer camp.

Fifty Jewish French children, aged 10 – 15, were singing Hebrew songs on the plane.

The @vueling airline crew said that Israel is a terrorist state and forced the children off the aircraft; they… https://t.co/V78PEHB58B pic.twitter.com/HizF6SZoaD

— עמיחי שיקלי - Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) July 23, 2025

Vueling makes accusations against the teenagers that contradict passenger testimonies.

In response to the controversy, Vueling issued a statement on July 24 denying the allegations of discrimination and stating that the group ejected from the plane "improperly handled emergency material and actively disrupted the mandatory safety demonstration." However, a witness outside the Jewish group has denied Vueling's version: "For me they were quite polite. Everything was normal when the security measures began. Suddenly the thread (of the security measures) was interrupted and a voice announced that they were calling the police for security reasons".

On July 24, Club Kineret filed a complaint against Vueling, stating: "These children, accompanied by seven adults, had just finished a cultural stay; they were sitting in their seats, respectful of the rules and the staff", and adding: "No incident, no threat, no inappropriate behavior was reported."

The French association adds: "Several independent passengers present on the plane have issued written statements confirming that the minors did not pose any problem to public order or the safety of the flight." The French association demands "the immediate opening of an independent, full and transparent investigation, official recognition of the facts, public apologies from the company involved, as well as concrete guarantees to ensure that practices like this are never repeated."

The Movement Against Intolerance files a complaint for antisemitism

Likewise, a Spanish organization, the Movement Against Intolerance (MCI), filed a criminal complaint on Thursday regarding these events, stating: "The trigger may have been that they were singing in Hebrew. That requires a serious and rigorous investigation."

Criticism from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain and the European Jewish Congress

Given that its first statement had not had much effect, Vueling published a second statement yesterday reiterating its version, but without providing any evidence or testimony outside the crew to support its claims. These events have already generated criticism from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) and the European Jewish Congress (EJC).

What doesn't add up in Vueling's version

Personally, I find Vueling's version of events hardly credible. It must be taken into account that we are talking about an airline with a sizable fleet and specialized in low-cost flights. That company is frequently used by football team hooligans, and nothing like what happened in Valencia has ever been seen. Should we assume that, for Vueling, a group of underage French Jews are more problematic and difficult to manage than hooligans who often board planes already drunk? Many groups of young people also travel with that company. And, coincidentally, is the only group of young people ejected from a flight with that company a Jewish group?

On the other hand, requiring the teenagers' cell phones to delete videos (i.e., evidence) is both serious and suspicious. What was in those videos that required a measure that blatantly violates these young people's fundamental rights? Likewise, not a single passenger confirms Vueling's version, but there are testimonies that refute it. I assume the company already knows what this could mean if this matter goes to court.

A minister interferes in the controversy by insulting young Jews

As if this whole affair wasn't already giving Spain a pretty deplorable image, yesterday the Minister of Transport, the socialist Óscar Puente, decided to once again act as the Kingdom's biggest loudmouth by publishing an embarrassing message on Twitter (an automatic copy can be seen here), full of spelling mistakes and in which he states the following:

"Will the patriots be with Vueling? Will the law and order supporters be with air safety? Will the xenophobes be with the Spanish company? Or will they all stand united behind the Israeli brats?"

This message is stupid. To begin with, the young people weren't Israelis, but French Jews, but the minister doesn't seem to care. In fact, he hasn't even rectified that lie. Besides, what does patriotism have to do with this? Is it patriotic to support a Spanish company if it mistreats foreign clients? That's not patriotism: it's xenophobia. The same xenophobia that, curiously, the minister sees in others but not in his own words. Furthermore, Puente uses a word, "niñatos," that he has never used to refer to foreign minors of North African origin who commit crimes in Spain, crimes that include theft, assault, and rape.

A new gesture of antisemitism from Pedro Sánchez's government

Obviously, if the minister uses the term "brats" to refer to Jewish minors but not to criminals of other nationalities, the reason for this bias is more than obvious: antisemitism. It's the same reason why the minister interferes in a conflict between private individuals, taking sides without waiting for an investigation to be completed, assuming that the Jewish "brats" are the culprits and that's the end of it. Puente has already given many reasons for his dismissal, but this one is the icing on the cake.

Yesterday, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain criticized the minister's words: "Israeli brats, Mr. Minister? They are French and minors. The facts are not at all clear for you to refer to them in those terms." Of course, Puente cares little for the truth. He is an expert at insulting those who do not share his opinions and is part of the most antisemitic government in Europe, a government that has done things like authorizing a march called by a Palestinian terrorist group in Madrid, a group that supported the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, the largest massacre suffered by the Jewish people since the Holocaust. To top it all off, a minister, the communist Sira Rego, attended that march to show her support.

More recently, Sanchez falsely accused Israel of "genocide" in an attempt to cover up corruption scandals within his personal circle and his government. Sanchez has never made that accusation against Hamas, Russia, or China for massacring Jews, massacring Ukrainians, and massacring Uyghurs, respectively. Sánchez attacks Israel - the only Jewish state - as he does not do against dictatorships or terrorist groups, and the reason for this evident bias is the same that led Óscar Puente yesterday to insult a group of Jewish teenagers as he did: antisemitism.

An alarming wave of antisemitism is on the rise in Spain.

This antisemitism encouraged by political power has a lot to do with the fact that under the Sánchez government, antisemitic incidents are skyrocketing in Spain: an increase of 321% compared to 2023 and 567% compared to 2022, as the FCJE denounced a few days ago.

But it must be said that the government is not alone in this infamous task of promoting hatred of Jews. Recently, we witnessed the shameful act of the expulsion of several Israeli customers from a restaurant in Vigo simply because of their nationality, whose owner uttered a cry used by Hezbollah terrorists. This is a clear act of xenophobia, the most striking evidence of which is provided by the innkeeper himself, who recorded a video in which he appeared insulting those customers. Despite this, many media outlets simply believed the hotelier's version without evidence, and in the last few hours the same thing has happened with that flight from Valencia, with many media outlets simply believing the company's version despite not providing a single piece of evidence to support it and the existence of testimonies that contradict it.

I am a Spanish citizen and my religion is Catholic, but I must say I feel ashamed seeing the wave of hatred against Jews that is happening in my country. Since the news broke about the expulsion of several French teenagers from a Vueling plane, many people of different ideologies have openly supported Vueling simply because it expelled some Jews from the plane, without waiting to know if the company's version is true or if the investigation into the facts provides very different conclusions. They are Jews and that, for many, means they are the bad guys without needing to say anything else. A disgusting antisemitism that in Spain (to the shame of millions of Spaniards who abhor that hatred of Jews that has already caused so much harm and so many deaths), is promoted by the government.

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Photo: La Moncloa. Spain's Minister of Transport, Socialist Óscar Puente.