French politics once again finds itself clutching pearls over an incident that may, or may not, have anything to do with religion – depending on which headline you’ve read.
A group of French teenagers, allegedly Jewish, were booted off a Vueling flight in Valencia after reportedly fiddling with the plane’s emergency kit and making the crew’s safety demo into more of a farce than usual. Naturally, this has sparked outrage that they might have been removed for being Jewish, because nothing says discrimination like unplugging a life vest mid-briefing.
France’s Europe minister Jean-Noël Barrot, clearly with nothing more pressing to do, has been on the phone to Vueling’s CEO demanding answers, while also pestering the Spanish ambassador for details. Vueling, for its part, insists religion had nothing to do with it – though one imagines they’d rather passengers not play “DIY exit strategy” with emergency equipment at 30,000 feet.
Israeli media and a few ministers, never ones to let a good narrative go begging, immediately suggested it was anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, Spain’s Civil Guard calmly pointed out that the captain removed the passengers after they repeatedly ignored instructions. In other words: cause, meet consequence.
Still, we can all look forward to the inevitable political soul-searching, statements about “deep concern”, and calls for “documentary evidence” – because clearly, the real victim here is the airline safety card, which was never properly demonstrated.
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