Fifty Jewish teenagers from France, traveling as part of a summer camp, were removed from a Vueling Airlines flight in Valencia, Spain, on July 23, after reportedly singing in Hebrew on board. While some witnesses allege the removal was fueled by anti-Semitism, the airline insists the group was ejected due to “highly disruptive behavior.”
According to witnesses, the group stopped singing after flight attendants warned them, yet police boarded the aircraft and ordered the youths and their director to disembark. One individual claimed that a staff member made inflammatory remarks about Israel during the incident, calling it a "terrorist state."
In a statement, Vueling said the group mishandled emergency equipment, disrupted the mandatory safety demonstration, and ignored repeated instructions. The airline also firmly denied any anti-Semitic motive, stating that the airline rejects "any form of discrimination without exception."
Jewish people have faced persecution for millennia. They have been accused of all kinds of evil deeds and have been scapegoats for numerous problems, including religious, economic, and political turmoil, and even diseases.
Anti-Semitism has been present throughout history, and sometimes it has had disastrous consequences. In this gallery, we remember some of the most devastating events in Jewish history. Click on.