“It can be done with Russia but it can’t be done with Israel?”

“We have come here from Europe and Spain to demand change, to move from words to actions. “Humanity is at risk every day in Palestine.” With these words, the former mayor of Barcelona, ​​Ada Colau, warns about the unstable situation of the Palestinian population, which she has experienced firsthand as a participant in an international delegation accompanied by Commons MEP Jaume Ascen . A member, and who was attacked with tear gas by Israeli soldiers. “The situation is much worse than we knew,” Colau acknowledged in an appearance at Ramallah City Hall. He reminded that Barcelona broke relations with Tel Aviv two years ago because of “apartheid, illegal occupation and human rights rape.” And he has asked the EU and Spain to do the same. He asked, “This can be done with Russia but this cannot be done with Israel?”

“We need basic facts like a complete arms embargo, economic sanctions on Israel and suspending relations with a state that violates international legitimacy and human rights,” Colau claimed, admitting that he was a European citizen. Feels “ashamed” as. “The word is impunity,” he said of the EU and the international community’s response to Tel Aviv, before recalling that just yesterday Israel had decided to impose a moratorium on UN agency UNRWA operations in the Palestinian territories. , in which dozens of people were killed in Gaza. and continued “indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population in Lebanon”. “This continues to violate international legitimacy and human rights,” he reiterated.

Assance has also condemned the “double standards” and “hypocrisy” of the European Union and the United States. “We have come to do what Western governments do not do. The massacre in Gaza and the systematic violations of law in the West Bank are Israel’s responsibility”: “What is valid for Russia must be valid for Israel, what is valid for the Ukrainian population must be valid for the Palestinian population.”

Although he acknowledged that the Spanish government has done “a lot” in relation to the conflict, he warned that “it is not enough.” “We want Spain to be a leader, a leader in the defense of rights in Europe.” Among the coalition’s requests, Assens has included reform of arms trade legislation, although he admitted that the right wing – referring to the PP, Vox and Juntes – would not support it because they are “supporting genocide”: “It’s difficult because that law has come out, but we have to try.”

Colau and Assens’ words came as they faced tear gas attacks by Israeli soldiers for picking olives in Qusra along with “peaceful and unarmed farmers”. “We were able to experience firsthand what the Palestinian people face every day, even after they attacked us. The soldiers did not talk to anyone, they attacked directly with tear gas and sound grenades, they endangered the lives of the people who were there,” said Colau, who assured that a similar situation would be a “scandal” in international diplomacy. Would have happened. , He said, “For me this is the least important, because this is what the Palestinian people suffer every day: human rights violations with complete impunity.”

Colau reported that after the attack the consul in Jerusalem and the Secretary of the Foreign Ministry contacted him to “concern” about his health: “I replied that fortunately we were in good health, but we were under serious attack by the Israelis. “They could have been seriously injured by the presence of the army and armed residents.”

The former mayor said, “The government of Spain, which seeks to be a democratic government committed to human rights and international legitimacy, must be concerned about the systematic violations of human rights committed by Israel against the people of Palestine.” More”.