More than half the boys in a Bnei Akiva Israel tour group were sent home after a dead snake was draped over the door of a female leader and tour members urinated outside her room.

Nine members of the group were expelled from the programme two days before it was due to end. One of those sent home has claimed that many of the nine were not involved in the snake incident.

The snake had been obtained from a formaldehyde jar found in an abandoned office on the site of the tour party's accommodation.

According to the boy who spoke to the JC, the prank was meant to symbolise a feeling among some of the group that the madricha had allegedly been snake-like - duplicitous - in her behaviour towards them.

Bnei Akiva said that the nine had all been previously warned about their behaviour during the tour, organised as part of the UJIA Israel Experience. They were dismissed for "serious breaches of our code of conduct, far beyond anything we would normally expect".

Informing parents of the decision, the organisers explained that, as set out in the code of conduct - which is signed by participants - unless the boys had family members in Israel who they could stay with, they would be flown back to the UK as soon as possible at their parents' expense.

The mother of one of the boys said the news had come as a shock: "Until that point, we'd been getting daily emails saying everything was fine, the children are really happy, standard messages."

In the code of conduct, Bnei Akiva details a "three-strike" system for offences, with parents or guardians informed if their child incurs a strike. However, in this instance, parents said the email sent referred to "behavioural issues" which superseded the "three-strike" rule.

The expelled boys were part of a tour party of 32, including 15 girls, from schools said to include Hasmonean, JFS and Immanuel College. Five boys from another Bnei Akiva tour group were sent home for alcohol-related breaches of the conduct code.

The boy who spoke to the JC said that on July 26, the morning after the snake prank, the 17 boys were gathered in a room and told that if the culprits did not own up, the organisers would assume that everyone was involved. No one admitted responsibility, he said.

He claimed that subsequently, only a few boys at a time were allowed to exit the room to get water or access to the toilets.

Bnei Akiva maintains that all participants were given food and drink throughout the day.

Half-an-hour after the organisers had left the room, the boys fled through a window, refusing to return to allegedly "inhumane" conditions.

Later in the day, the boys were again gathered together before representatives of UJIA and the Tlalim tourism group.

There, those expelled from the tour learned of their fate.

A parent who wrote to Bnei Akiva questioning the decision was sent a list detailing some of the alleged misdemeanours, including "chanting", "hissing", "playing inappropriate music", "asking sexually inappropriate questions" and "walking around in underwear in a religious community".

The boy told the JC that a few of the group had been listening to a song about "genitalia" and had replied disrespectfully to a tour leader who had asked them to turn it off.

He said that they had subsequently expressed regret to the leader, who had accepted their apology. He claimed the "sexually inappropriate" questions were down to "one boy", and that to the best of his knowledge, no boy had walked about in underwear.

In a statement, Bnei Akiva - which sent five groups to Israel- said that the tour leaders "were trained and equipped to deal with machane [camp]. However, behaviour of this kind has no place anywhere, let alone on tour.

"We were extremely disappointed by the actions of these participants, which is not in keeping with the behaviour of thousands of others who have attended our programmes."

The movement, which charged £3,000 per child for the tour, also maintained that "participants' misbehaviour had been notable throughout the trip, including incidents directed at senior tour leaders, and those who were sent home received warnings for their actions".

A case by case assessment of those expelled would determine if they would be allowed future involvement in the movement.

Incidents of such nature were exceptions rather than the rule, the organisation added. "The majority [of participants] will have a rich, rewarding and trouble-free experience."

UJIA has an Israel Bursary Fund which provides financial support of £220,000 to 235 tour-goers across all movements. It revealed that out of the 1,211 teenagers on Israel tour programmes this summer, 19 have been sent home, including the 14 from the two Bnei Akiva groups. It did not reveal which movements were involved in the other tour expulsions.

There were eight expulsions from 1,145 tour participants in 2015.

The charity said it "fully supports the actions Bnei Akiva have taken and are disappointed by the behaviour of the participants who were dismissed. This type of behaviour was unacceptable.

"We are confident that our madrichim are fully trained and of the highest calibre."

It did not respond to a question on whether the Bnei Akiva incidents would prompt a rethink on the selection and training of its tour madrichim.