The Diplomat
The president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE), Isaac Benzaquén, complained yesterday to the acting Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, that statements such as those of his Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, accusing Israel of genocide, have inflamed anti-Jewish sentiments in Spain.
Sánchez yesterday received representatives of Jewish communities in Spain at the Moncloa, together with the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños.
At the meeting, according to a statement released by the FCJE, Isaac Benzaquen, expressed his concern about what he considers “the greatest escalation of anti-Semitism in Spain in recent times”, following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.
Benzaquen denounced acts and comments against Israel and pointed in particular to those made by Ione Belarra, who has repeatedly spoken of “planned genocide against the Palestinian people” and “absolute lack of humanity” on the part of Israel, a country with which she called for the suspension of diplomatic relations. Last Sunday, for example, he wrote on his social networking account X: “Israel has shown in these weeks an absolute lack of humanity. Asking (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to comply with an international law that he despises serves no purpose”.
The FCJE points out in its statement that “the demonstrations against Israel, the burning of Israeli flags, the proclamations calling Israel a murderer, genocidal and author of a planned ethical cleansing, as has been reiterated on several occasions by Minister Ione Belarra, has inflamed tempers against the Spanish Jewish community, as we have seen in Melilla, Barcelona and Madrid, among other cities”.
According to Benzaquén, some political, media and social sectors have generated an “anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish climate” in Spain, which has led many people to prefer not to wear Jewish symbols for fear of being attacked.
The FCJE president said that, as a result of demonstrations and acts against Jewish and Israeli communities, some synagogues and community centres have closed and schools have been specially protected. He therefore called on Sánchez to “continue to maintain and strengthen the government’s commitment to the security and protection of Jewish communities”.
Sánchez also met yesterday with the secretary of the Islamic Commission in Spain, Mohamed Ajana, and the organisation’s delegate in Madrid, Mostafa Abdeslam.
Subsequently, the acting Prime Minister wrote on the social network X that he had thanked both communities for their willingness to “continue working for peace and coexistence” and stressed that Spain is an open and tolerant society and that this makes it stronger.
“It is time to mobilise all efforts to stop the spiral of violence and return to a diplomatic and political solution. The Spanish government is involved in this effort”, he added.
Meeting with the ambassadors
In the afternoon, the head of the Spanish government received the Israeli ambassador, Rodica Radian-Gordon, days after the diplomatic clash following the issuing of a communiqué by the embassy, in which some members of the government were accused of aligning themselves with Hamas terrorism.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded with another communiqué in which it described the statements made by the diplomatic representation as “falsehoods”, and the head of the department, José Manuel Albares, revealed that he had called the ambassador to tell her that they considered the communiqué to be “an unfriendly gesture”. In the following days, both the Foreign Ministry and the embassy stated that the incident was over, despite the fact that Minister Belarra and other Podemos leaders continued to insist on their criticism of Israel.
After receiving the Israeli ambassador, Sánchez did the same with the head of the Palestinian Mission in Spain, Husni M. A. Abdelwahed, who, after the Spanish government’s initial condemnation of the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israeli territory, did not shy away from criticising the European Union, warning that it could be an accomplice of Israel.
