The Diplomat
The Israeli government has vetoed the entry into the Palestinian territories of Spanish MEP Manu Pineda, from Izquierda Unida and president of the Delegation for Relations with Palestine of the European Parliament (DEPAL), who has demanded to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the adoption of “reciprocity measures” against Israel.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry notified Pineda on Tuesday that he would not be allowed to travel with the delegation of the European Parliament that plans to visit the West Bank next week, as explained yesterday the MEP himself during a press conference in Brussels. The Spanish parliamentarian has been the only member of the delegation vetoed by Israel.
This is the second time that Israel has vetoed Pineda’s entry into the territories. The previous time occurred in May 2022, after which the European delegation decided to cancel the trip. Instead, the IU MEP has this time asked the other members to go ahead with his visit to the West Bank. The previous veto came after Pineda denounced “the murder” of a Palestinian journalist by Israel and this second one has occurred after showing his support for the decision of the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, to break relations with Israel and the twinning with Tel Aviv.
At the press conference, Manu Pineda said yesterday that “it cannot be tolerated that this European Parliament accepts this veto” and, therefore, it must “give a serious response to this matter” that is not limited, “as happened a year ago, to a tweet from President Metsola in which she expressed her affection and solidarity, and little more”. “We are going to ask President Metsola, or I am going to ask her as president of DEPAL, to take reciprocal measures against the Israeli regime” by virtue of which “neither elected representatives nor Israeli diplomats will be allowed to enter this European Parliament,” he added.
