Jerusalem24 – The Catalan Legislative Chamber approved on Thursday a resolution recognizing Israeli apartheid against the Palestinians.
It is the first European parliament to do so.
“The Parliament of Catalonia publicly recognizes that the system applied by Israel in the Occupied Territories is contrary to international law and is equivalent to the crime of apartheid,” says the resolution.
The text received the support of the Republican Left of Catalonia, the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), the Socialists’ Party of Catalonia, and En Comú Podem. The latter two groups are part of the ruling coalition government in Spain.
CUP deputy Carles Riera argued during the voting session that Israel is applying the same system of racial segregation that occurred in South Africa against the black majority until the 1990s. “It is an internationally accepted fact that the State of Israel had a continued role in supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa,” Riera stated, adding: “It was a field of experimentation of its apartheid policy.”
Member of Parliament Susanna Segovia described the vote as “historic” and called for sanctions to be taken against Israel in the same way Russia has been sanctioned for its invasion of Ukraine.
Israeli ambassador to Spain Rodica Radian-Gordon took to Twitter to condemn the resolution: “I strongly condemn the shameful resolution approved by the Foreign Action Committee of the Parliament of Catalonia.”
Radian-Gordon said the resolution was the result of an “anti-Israel obsession.”
Condeno enérgicamente la vergonzosa resol. aprobada hoy por la Com. de Acc. Ext. @parlamentcat. Una resolución fruto de la obsesión antiisraelí de quienes la han promovido y aprobado.
— Embajadora de Israel (@Isr_Amb_Esp) June 16, 2022
