Mayor of Barcelona accuses Israel of practicing apartheid against the palestinian people
The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, wrote an open letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing Israel of practicing apartheid against the Palestinian people and announcing the temporary rupture of ties between Barcelona and Tel Aviv, which for 25 years have been twinned cities.
Colau's initiative was motivated by an appeal launched by a hundred social organizations and endorsed by five thousand citizens. The intention of the mayor of Barcelona is to replace the relationship with Israel with support for Palestinian and Israeli organizations that work for peace.
“I have decided to temporarily suspend relations with the State of Israel and with the official institutions of this State and, in particular, the twinning agreements with the municipality of Tel Aviv, until the Israeli authorities end the systematic violation of human rights of the Palestinian population,” wrote Colau.
In a letter, the Jewish Community of Barcelona and the Federación de Comunidades Judías de Espanã, which have seen the return of antisemitism to the Iberian peninsula, declared: "we see with great concern that only a single city, a single country in the worl is being questioned about its actions and its legitimacy. And there is the circumstance that it is precisely about Israel, the only Jewish country in the world. That is why, in our opinion, this decision has nothing to do with politics, human rights, o peace. This action has a name and it is called "sophisticated anti-semitism".
