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Resort manager arrested in southern France on charges of religious discrimination after denying entry to Israeli youth

The manager of a leisure resort in the south of France has been arrested after refusing to allow entry to a group of Israeli youth due to his “personal beliefs,” French media reports.

French newspaper Ouest-France reports that the tour group of some 150 Israeli youth, ages 8 to 16, had made a reservation at the leisure resort well in advance, without incident.

But when they arrived at the center, located in Porté-Puymorens, in the southern Pyrénées-Orientales region, the 52-year-old manager turned them away, citing his “personal beliefs” as his reason for doing so.

The manager of a leisure resort in the south of France has been arrested after refusing to allow entry to a group of Israeli youth due to his “personal beliefs,” French media reports.

French newspaper Ouest-France reports that the tour group of some 150 Israeli youth, ages 8 to 16, had made a reservation at the leisure resort well in advance, without incident.

But when they arrived at the center, located in Porté-Puymorens, in the southern Pyrénées-Orientales region, the 52-year-old manager turned them away, citing his “personal beliefs” as his reason for doing so.

The incident was reported to the police, who, according to the prosecutor’s office, detained him on suspicion of “discrimination on the basis of religion in the context of the offer or provision of goods or services.”

According to Ouest-France, the maximum sentence for this charge, if found guilty, is three years’ imprisonment.

Incident Details

Type of Incident: Antisemitic Incident
Date of Incident: August 22, 2025
City: Amusement park in Porté-Puymorens
Country: France

About Sentinel

SENTINEL is a European project funded by the European Commission and led by the Security and Crisis Centre (SACC by EJC), the security arm of the European Jewish Congress. It brings together the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), national-level Jewish communities from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and Spain, the European Union of Jewish Students, with the support of the Italian Carabinieri and the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic.

The project is designed to strengthen the protection of Jewish places of worship across the European Union through a coordinated set of activities over a three-year period.

SENTINEL will harness AI-enhanced open-source intelligence to monitor and assess current, emerging, and future threats. It will also equip Jewish communities with practical tools, including a mobile security application with a panic button and an interactive map built on real-time incident data.

Training and capacity-building are at the core of the project. These include scenario-based security exercises, crisis management seminars, and both in-person and online training sessions for community security trustees. SENTINEL will also organise EU-wide and local conferences to foster collaboration between Jewish communities, public authorities, and law enforcement agencies.

Complementing these efforts, national and local workshops will promote knowledge-sharing and preparedness, alongside pilot training programmes for law enforcement. A dedicated podcast series will help raise awareness by exploring threat assessments and potential responses.

With its wide-reaching and inclusive approach, SENTINEL will directly benefit to Jewish communities across 23 EU Member States, enhancing resilience, strengthening preparedness, and building long-term cooperation with law enforcement to meet today’s evolving security challenges.