The unilateral move by the mayoress of Barcelona, ??Ada Colau, who yesterday decreed the breaking of the twinning with Tel Aviv and the suspension of relations with the State of Israel, has fallen like a jug of cold water on the Jewish state. For many Israelis, Barcelona is their tourist mecca. They idolize Barça, and Hebrew is one of the most heard languages ??on the Rambla. Now, many feel that they will no longer be welcome in the Catalan capital.
“It 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. It is a reinforcement for extremists, terrorist groups and is against the interests of the people of Barcelona,” Lior Haiat, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, tweeted in Catalan. And he specified: “for years the relationship between Barcelona and Israel has been based on a shared culture and values. This painful decision will not succeed in damaging our friendship.”
The suspension of relations promoted by Colau, which was supported by a citizen campaign that obtained 4,000 signatures but has not been brought to the municipal plenary session, indicated that the rupture will prevail until “the Israeli authorities put an end to the systematic violation of human rights against the Palestinian population and comply with the obligations imposed by international law”.
The controversial resolution comes in full internal commotion in Israel. Every Saturday, tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrate against the “judicial reform” approved by Benjamin Netanyahu, considered by his detractors as the end of Israeli democracy.
The marches also include proclamations against racism, and even the minority “anti-occupation bloc” waves Palestinian flags in Tel Aviv, defying a recent ban pushed by Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right minister in charge of the police.
With his maneuver, which the Hebrew media label as electoralist, Colau is committed to breaking bridges with the last bastion of defender of freedoms and human rights in Israel.
“Tel Aviv and Barcelona have a lot in common. Mediterranean cities, good food, tourism and sun. Now, Barcelona is detached from its sister city”, highlighted the presenter of the public channel Kan11.
The television piece, which took up a large part of the news, recalls that Barcelona is home to “a long-standing anti-Israel scene, led by the mayoress Ada Colau.” The channel specifies that Colau and Podemos have been pressing for years to classify Israel as an apartheid state, and that the decree “feeds its extreme left bases.”
The program has also echoed existing twinning with Saint Petersburg, Havana, Shanghai or Isfahan. Neither the brutal repression of the Iranian regime after the death of Masha Amini nor the Russian invasion that devastated the Ukraine motivated the mayoress to promote such ruptures.
Robert Singer, director of the Center for Jewish Impact and member of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), told La Vanguardia that “Colau’s decision has no logic, it is an anti-Semitic movement contrary to what I felt when I met the people of Barcelona, to whom we call to mobilize on the subject”.
The CAM has already collected almost 10,000 signatures to reverse the decision, in a campaign that recalls that “true peace is built through discussion, not boycotts or isolation. This will bolster the deniers who oppose resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” In addition, he recalls that the brotherhood of Barcelona and Tel Aviv promotes tolerance between faiths and nationalities, something that “must be defended and promoted.”