Spanish FM slams Barcelona mayor for suspending ties with Israel, says ‘nothing good is achieved’

Madrid offered to replace Barcelona as Tel Aviv’s twin city.

By World Israel News Staff

The Spanish government on Friday slammed the decision by Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau to suspend the Spanish city’s ties with Israel, AFP reported.

Barcelona and Tel Aviv are twin cities.

Earlier this month, Colau informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the boycott before making the announcement on social media.

“At the request of more than 100 entities and thousands of Barcelona neighbors, I have just communicated to Netanyahu that we suspend institutional relations with the State of Israel due to the repeated violations of human rights of the Palestinian population and non-compliance with United Nations resolutions,” she stated.

Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares criticized Coalu’s action, calling it a “unilateral decision, and I understand an almost personal decision, by the mayor, AFP reported.

“I believe that Barcelona’s vocation is to be an open city, as Spain is. I do not believe that anything good is achieved by suspending, cutting, expelling, nor is a dialogue built between Israel and Palestine,” he said, according to the AFP report.

Meanwhile, Madrid Mayor José Luís Martínez-Almeida, in a letter to Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Hudai as well as at a press conference, offered his city as an alternative to Barcelona.

Twinning with Tel Aviv, he said, would be a “great opportunity to show Madrid’s commitment to strengthening relations with a democratic and a law-abiding state like Israel.”

Barcelona’s city council voted this week against Colau’s decision and rejected the idea of untwining the cities, however, the council has no veto power.