Pedro Sánchez condemns Netanyahu’s decision to block Palm Sunday services in Jerusalem

Eduardo González The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has condemned the decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent Catholics from celebrating Palm Sunday “in the Holy Places of Jerusalem,” which he described as an “unjustified attack on religious freedom.” Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has summoned the Israeli Chargé d'Affaires in Madrid, Dana Erlich, to convey Spain's protest. Israeli police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday to participate in Palm Sunday Mass. Netanyahu himself asserted that this decision is in accordance with the security measures currently in place in the country in the context of the war in the Middle East, which include restrictions on mass gatherings and controls in crowded places. The incident occurred during one of the most important celebrations on the Christian calendar, which has been strongly criticized by the Latin Patriarchate, which had previously denounced this “unprecedented event.” “Netanyahu has prevented Catholics from celebrating Palm Sunday in the Holy Sites of Jerusalem. Without any explanation. Without reasons or motives,” Sánchez wrote on social media. “The Government of Spain condemns this unjustified attack on religious freedom and demands that Israel respect the diversity of faiths and international law, because without tolerance, coexistence is impossible,” he concluded. Albares Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has summoned the Israeli Chargé d'Affaires in Spain, Dana Erlich, to convey Spain's protest and "tell her that this cannot happen again, that Catholic worship must be able to be celebrated normally, as it has always been celebrated historically," as he himself stated on the program 'El món' on RAC1. "It is a very worrying measure because religious freedom, freedom of belief, is a basic and fundamental freedom of every human being," he continued. “Nor have other faiths, the Muslim faith, for example, been allowed access to the holy sites. There have been a number of obstacles placed in the way of different faiths, including Christian and Catholic, in accessing the holy sites, which is unacceptable,” he denounced. “The Spanish Government will certainly defend freedom of belief, will defend the free exercise of any faith, including, of course, Catholicism, at any time, especially in such an emblematic place as the Holy Sepulchre, on such an emblematic day as Palm Sunday,” he added. Furthermore, the minister also discussed this issue with his Jordanian counterpart, his “good friend” Ayman Safadi, during a telephone conversation. According to Albares's social media post, the two ministers addressed “the war in the Middle East and its terrible human and economic consequences,” as well as “the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, and the brutal violence in Lebanon.” “I have conveyed my solidarity with your country. The Iranian attacks must stop. Spain calls on all parties to exercise restraint and de-escalation. Dialogue and negotiation are the solution for a stable and prosperous region,” he wrote on social media. For his part, Safadi was much more concise in his own social media message, explaining that, among other topics, the two ministers had discussed “Israel’s continued restrictions on the right of Muslims and Christians to worship in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” and the need to “join forces to compel Israel to respect the right of Muslims and Christians to worship at their holy sites in Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Safadi warned Albares that “Israel continues to restrict the right of Muslims and Christians to worship in the occupied Palestinian territory” and denounced “its measures that violate the historical and legal status quo at the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.” In this context, the Jordanian minister reiterated his country's condemnation of the Israeli ban on "Muslims performing their religious rituals in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which constitutes a place of worship for Muslims in its entirety," and recalled that "the Al-Quds Endowments and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department of the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments and Holy Islamic Affairs is the only entity authorized to manage its affairs." Safadi also condemned “Israel’s denial of access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and to Palm Sunday Mass, in violation of its legal obligations as an occupying power and of the unrestricted freedom of access to places of worship” and stressed “the need to join efforts to compel Israel to respect the right of Muslims and Christians to worship at their holy sites in Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, and to respect the historical and legal status quo at the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.”

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