The Diplomat
The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, assured the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, yesterday that the decision of the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, to break ties with her country and with the city of Tel Aviv “does not represent either Catalonia or Spain.”
“Our country is welcoming and, in particular, the Community of Madrid is,” said Ayuso after being received by Herzog in Jerusalem, as reported by the regional government in a press release. On February 8, the Barcelona City Council temporarily suspended institutional relations with the State of Israel and all official institutions of the country, including the twinning with the city of Tel Aviv, after meeting with the promoters of the citizens’ initiative Barcelona con el Apartheid no, Barcelona con los derechos humanos sí, in support of the Palestinian people, who have collected more than 4,000 signatures.
The Barcelona City Council twinned with Tel-Aviv and Gaza in 1998, a few years after the signing of the Oslo Accords (1994), which were to bring peace to the region. According to Colau, the decision “is in no way a discrimination against the Jewish population, it is a criticism of a government, not a people or a religion”.
On the other hand, Diaz Ayuso participated yesterday in a wreath at the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, where the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum is located. “Our Government, as well as the Madrid society, is committed, we are committed, to life and freedom, the two most precious goods that man has,” said the head of the autonomous Executive, who wrote those same words in the book of signatures of the center.
“For so much injustice and barbarism, and also for those yet to come, our work and recognition go to all the victims of the Shoah, of terrorism and of any kind of violence,” added Díaz Ayuso, who later met with the president of the Museum, Dani Dayan.
The President of Madrid was also interested in the educational work carried out by Yad Vashem, and the representatives of the educational area explained to her all the work carried out by this center around the world, especially in Spanish-speaking countries. The regional government and the Jewish Community of Madrid have signed an agreement for the promotion of Jewish culture and history, as well as the Sephardic legacy as part of the cultural heritage integrated in the region.
During her visit to Israel, which concluded yesterday, Díaz Ayuso met with political and business leaders of that country with the aim of intensifying relations and showing the “great capacity of Madrid” to attract investments and projects, according to the regional government. As she explained a few days ago, the objective of this trip is to strengthen ties with the Jewish community, which is “enterprising” and which “historically has been united with Spain”. The trip is in addition to those recently made by the President of Madrid to the United States, Portugal, France, Italy and Belgium to “promote investments” in the region and to establish collaboration agreements with various governments. The Community of Madrid currently accounts for 73.5% of foreign investment in Spain.
