Pilot Who Ejected Jewish Kids For Singing In Hebrew Trained Two 9/11 Hijackers

 

The antisemitic scandal surrounding Vueling Airlines has taken a mindboggling twist as it has been revealed that Iván Chirivella, a pilot who trained two of the 9/11 hijackers, was the captain who ordered the removal of 50 Jewish children from a flight between Valencia and Paris.

Vueling Airlines confirmed Friday that Chirivella, a native of the Canary Islands and a senior flight instructor at an independent aviation school, was in command during the incident. Chirivella was the flight instructor for at least two of the terrorists behind the September 11 attacks – ringleader Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al Shehhi – at Jones Aviation in Florida in 2000.

Despite this alarming history, Vueling promoted Chirivella to a senior training role, placing him not only in the cockpit but in charge of mentoring other pilots.

This development follows growing outrage over the treatment of the children, aged 13 to 15, who were returning home from summer camp in Spain when they were forcibly removed from the aircraft. Their 21-year-old group supervisor was violently arrested in front of the teens after attempting to prevent authorities from seizing the children’s phones—allegedly to delete evidence of the unfolding events.

The confrontation began when a child briefly sang a Hebrew song on board. Cabin crew warned the child to stop or risk police involvement. Despite immediate compliance, law enforcement officers boarded the plane moments later, ordering the removal of all 50 teens before takeoff.

Witnesses reported that the children—easily identifiable by religious symbols like tzitzis and Star of David necklaces—were treated as criminals. When the supervisor protested the demand for phones to be laid on the floor, she was thrown to the ground and handcuffed. Video footage and multiple independent passengers confirmed that the teens were calm and not disruptive.

Following their removal, the children were left stranded in Valencia with no alternative arrangements provided by Vueling. Parents scrambled to coordinate new flights and accommodations for the teens, with some forced to spend the night in local hotels.

Eyewitnesses reported that some crew members compared the teens to “terrorists,” while others allegedly made inflammatory remarks about Israel.

A passenger unaffiliated with the group shared on Instagram: “They boarded the plane normally, without shouting, which is rare in adolescents. I insist that they were behaving well. Nobody on the plane understood what was happening.”