According to an EasyJet spokesman, other passengers who had been “behaving in a disruptive manner” were spoken to by police.
JP Updates and other news sites had reported that a group of Jews on the flight had been singled out and “treated unfairly” by airline staff. EasyJet dismissed the reports as completely inaccurate.
In a statement, a spokesman for the British company said: “Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour on board.
"Due to this issue a replacement crew was needed to operate the flight and as a result, the departure of the flight was delayed.
“Passengers were held in a gate area at the request of the police for a short period of time to assess those responsible for the incident. The police took a number of passengers for questioning.
“Please feel assured that at EasyJet, we do not discriminate against any individual - passengers or staff members. To confirm, we have a zero tolerance towards discrimination of any kind.”
