Madrid, Spain – Barcelona has quickly damaged off ties with Israel over its coverage in the direction of Palestine.
The Catalan capital has been twinned with Tel Aviv and Gaza for 25 years, however this relationship has been quickly suspended.
Ada Colau, the left-wing mayor of Barcelona, wrote to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to announce the town would droop relations till Israel ended the “systematic violation of the people of Palestine’s human rights”.
“I have decided to temporarily suspend relations with the state of Israel and with the official institutions of that state -including the twinning agreements with the Tel Aviv City Council – until the Israeli authorities put an end to the system of violations of the Palestinian people and fully comply with the obligations imposed on them by international law and the various United Nations resolutions. We cannot be silent,” wrote the mayor.
Colau burdened the boycott of Israel didn’t apply to Israeli or Palestinian individuals who “work to build peace in the Middle East”.
She mentioned the town council, which doesn’t typically contain itself in worldwide politics, had taken the choice after 100 teams and greater than 4,000 residents had signed a request to interrupt relations with Israel.
Organisations for International Justice, a federation of greater than 100 NGOs, urged Barcelona to finish the dual metropolis hyperlink with Tel Aviv after air raids in Gaza in Might 2021.
The federation referred to as for “efforts to be stepped up as well as contacts with local civil society groups in order to de-escalate violence, protect and defend human rights and to end the occupation”.
Colau’s transfer to enter worldwide politics comes two months earlier than native elections and has been seen in Spain as enjoying to her pure supporters on the political left.
Lior Haiat, a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Overseas Affairs, condemned the town council’s transfer as “against the wishes of Barcelona residents”.
“The statement by the mayor of Barcelona on the suspension of relations with the state of Israel and with the city of Tel Aviv is a regrettable decision that is totally against the opinion of the majority of the citizens of Barcelona and their representatives in the city council,” he tweeted.
The Federation of Spanish Jewish Communities condemned the transfer as “sophisticated anti-Semitism”.
“[Israel] is the only Jewish country in the world. For this reason, in our opinion, this decision has nothing to do with politics or with human rights or with peace. This has a name, and it is called sophisticated anti-Semitism,” it mentioned in an announcement.
The transfer additionally cut up Barcelona’s left-wing coalition authorities.
Colau is allied to the United We Can (Unidas Podemos) get together which is the junior accomplice in Spain’s left-wing coalition authorities, which is led by the Socialists.
Laia Bonet, the chief of the Catalan Socialist get together in Barcelona, referred to as on Colau to revive relations between the Catalan metropolis and Tel Aviv.
“We should reinforce, not weaken, the role of Barcelona in the world,” she mentioned.
Antonio Alonso, an professional on worldwide research on the CEU San Pablo College in Madrid, mentioned Spanish relations with Israel had modified lately.
“Since the return to democracy, Socialist governments have been more sympathetic to the Palestinians while conservative ones have been more sympathetic to Israel,” he informed Al Jazeera.
“Currently, Spain follows the European Union policy of recognising both states of Israel and Palestine.”
The Spanish authorities declined to remark.
Jewish folks arrived in Barcelona greater than 1,700 years in the past, historians consider, however many left after an assault on the group in 1391.
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