Barcelona - Saba:
The Barcelona City Council voted on Friday to sever institutional relations with the "Israeli" government and suspend its friendship agreement with Tel Aviv "until international law is respected and the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people are guaranteed."
The resolution, which includes around 20 clauses, was supported by the ruling Socialist Party in the city, along with several left-wing and pro-independence parties.
It stipulates the cutting of institutional ties with the "current 'Israeli' government" and the suspension of the "friendship agreement" signed in 1998 between the Catalan capital and "Tel Aviv-Yafo."
Barcelona's Socialist Mayor, Jaume Collboni, stated that "the level of suffering and death witnessed in Gaza over the past year and a half, along with the repeated attacks carried out by the 'Israeli' government in recent weeks… make any relationship between the two cities untenable."
Among other measures included in the resolution—some of which fall outside the municipality's jurisdiction—is a request to the management of the Barcelona Trade Fair to refrain from hosting "Israeli" government pavilions or "arms companies or any other sector benefiting from genocide, occupation, apartheid, and colonization against the Palestinian people."
A similar recommendation is being considered for the Port of Barcelona to refuse ships involved in transporting weapons to "Israel."
This is not the first time Barcelona has suspended relations with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. In February 2023, former mayor and social activist Ada Colau decided to "suspend ties with the Zionist enemy, including the twin-city agreement with the municipality of 'Tel Aviv.'"
The decision was reversed a few months later when Jaume Collboni won the municipal elections.
Spain’s Socialist government, led by Pedro Sánchez, recognized the State of Palestine on May 28, 2024, alongside Ireland and Norway.
In recent months, Sánchez has been one of the most vocal critics of Netanyahu’s government within the European Union.
| more of (International) |