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Spain, Norway, Ireland Officially Recognize Palestinian State as Denmark’s Parliament Rejects Proposal
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares (center), Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (right), and Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin (left) gesture after a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, May 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Johanna Geron
Spain, Norway, and Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday, prompting outrage in Israel, whose foreign minister described the move as “incitement to genocide” against the Jewish people.
The coordinated announcement by Madrid, Oslo, and Dublin came on the same day that Denmark’s parliament rejected such a proposal, joining several European countries that have said the conditions have not been met yet to recognize a Palestinian state.
However, officials in Spain, Norway, and Ireland argued such a move would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and lead to lasting peace in the region, explaining that the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza accelerated their plans.
“It’s the only way of advancing toward what everyone recognizes as the only possible solution to achieve a peaceful future, one of a Palestinian state that lives side by side with the Israeli state in peace and security,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised address.
Sanchez explained that Spain is recognizing a unified Palestinian state, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, under the Palestinian Authority (PA) with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on borders that were in place before the Six-Day War in 1967.
The PA currently exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, while its rival, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, rules Gaza.
Norway described Tuesday’s announcement as a “milestone” in its relationship with the Palestinians.
“For more than 30 years, Norway has been one of the strongest advocates for a Palestinian state,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement. “Today, when Norway officially recognizes Palestine as a state, is a milestone in the relationship between Norway and Palestine.”
Meanwhile, Dublin said it plans to upgrade its representative office in the West Bank to a full embassy and the Palestinian mission in Ireland will also be offered full embassy status.
“The government recognizes Palestine as a sovereign and independent state and agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between Dublin and Ramallah,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said in a statement on Tuesday. “We had wanted to recognize Palestine at the end of a peace process. However, we have made this move alongside Spain and Norway to keep the miracle of peace alive.”
He added, “This decision of Ireland is about keeping hope alive. It is about believing that a two-state solution is the only way for Israel and Palestine to live side by side in peace and security.”
Harris also called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to listen to the world and stop the humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing in Gaza.”
Spain and Ireland have been among the most vocal critics of Israel since Oct. 7, when Hamas invaded the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza and launched the current war. The Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted over 250 others as hostages in their rampage, the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign in Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas.
It remains unclear how exactly Spain, Norway, and Ireland envision Gaza being incorporated into a Palestinian state if Israel does not pursue its goal of fully removing Hamas from power and eliminating its terrorist infrastructure due to international pressure to halt its campaign.
Recent polling has found that the Palestinian people in both Gaza and the West Bank generally support the Oct. 7 massacre, want Hamas to remain in power in Gaza, and would back Hamas over the PA’s ruling Fatah party in elections.
On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz lashed out at Spain on X/Twitter, saying Sanchez’s government was being “complicit in incitement to genocide against the Jewish people and in war crimes.”
He noted that Spain’s Minister of Labor and Second Vice-President Yolanda Diaz ended a speech last week with the phrase “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel had repeatedly warned European countries that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would effectively amount to a “reward for terrorism” that would hurt the chances of a negotiated resolution to the conflict.
Last week, Israel recalled its ambassadors from Spain, Norway, and Ireland for immediate consultations and reprimanded the three countries’ ambassadors residing in Israel over their governments’ announced plan to recognize a Palestinian state.
The three European envoys were summoned to meet with Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Yaakov Blitshtein in Jerusalem. During the meeting, the ambassadors were shown a newly released video of the moments when five female Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
In the video, Hamas terrorists force the young women, some of whom are teenagers, against a wall and threaten to kill them.
Of the 27 members of the European Union, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden have already recognized a Palestinian state. Slovenia is expected to join them on Thursday, and Malta has said it could follow.
Britain and Australia have also said they are considering recognition of a Palestinian state. However, other countries have said the time is not right to do so.
On Tuesday, the Danish parliament rejected a proposal to recognize a Palestinian state, backing the government’s position that the necessary conditions were not in place.
Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had previously said the Danish government could not recognize a Palestinian state because it did not have a single functioning authority or control over its own territory.
“We cannot recognize an independent Palestinian state, for the sole reason that the preconditions are not really there,” he said during a parliamentary debate in April.
Denmark is not alone. Last week, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said the conditions to officially recognize a Palestinian state have not yet been met.
“Our position is clear: the recognition of Palestine is not taboo for France,” Séjourné said in a statement.
“This is not just a symbolic issue or a question of political positioning, but a diplomatic tool in the service of the solution of two states living side by side in peace and security,” he continued. “France does not consider that the conditions have yet been met for this decision to have a real impact on this process.”
Germany similarly expressed support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but added that a “process of dialogue” was needed to reach that point.
“An independent Palestinian state remains a firm goal of German foreign policy,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said at a news conference in Berlin. “It’s clear to us that this requires a process of dialogue.”
Some European lawmakers echoed that point. Michael Roth, head of the German parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, lambasted the moves to grant recognition.
“I fear this will not bring us any closer to the necessary two-state solution,” Roth told the German RND media outlet last week, adding that it also gives “the false impression that it was only the horrific terror by Hamas on Oct. 7 that led to a new positive dynamic in favor of the Palestinians.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that the US supports a two-state solution but believes it should be brought about through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
“President Biden … has been equally emphatic on the record that that two-state solution should be brought about through direct negotiations through the parties, not for unilateral recognition,” Sullivan said.
The post Spain, Norway, Ireland Officially Recognize Palestinian State as Denmark’s Parliament Rejects Proposal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria to Give UN Watchdog Inspectors Access to Suspected Former Nuclear Sites as New Regime Seeks Sanctions Relief
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media, in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2025. Photo: Iranian Atomic Organization/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Syria’s new government has agreed to provide the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog — with immediate access to former nuclear sites, signaling a move to restore international trust as it hopes to have international sanctions lifted.
On Wednesday, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi told the Associated Press that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has shown a “very positive disposition to talk to us and allow us to carry out the activities we need to.”
After meeting with Sharaa in Damascus, he expressed hope that the inspection process would be completed within the coming months.
The IAEA’s goal is “to bring total clarity over certain activities that took place in the past that were, in the judgment of the agency, probably related to nuclear weapons,” Grossi said.
He also noted that Syria’s new leadership is “committed to opening up to the world, to international cooperation.”
Last year, the IAEA conducted inspections at several sites of interest in Damascus while former President Bashar al-Assad was still in power.
Under Assad’s rule, the country was believed to have operated a secret nuclear program, which included an undeclared nuclear reactor built by North Korea in Deir el-Zour province, in eastern Syria — a fact that was revealed after Israel destroyed the facility in a 2007 airstrike.
Since the collapse of Assad’s regime in December, the IAEA has been looking to regain access to sites associated with the country’s nuclear program.
In addition to conducting inspections, Grossi said the agency is prepared to provide Syria’s new government with equipment for nuclear medicine and to help rebuild the country’s radiotherapy and oncology infrastructure.
“And the president has expressed to me that he’s interested in exploring, in the future, nuclear energy as well,” Grossi said.
Last month, US President Donald Trump announced the lifting of sanctions on Syria — a major policy shift that aligns with the European Union’s efforts to support the country’s recovery and political transition.
As Sharaa focuses on rebuilding Syria after years of conflict, the lifting of Western sanctions that isolated the country from the global financial system is expected to boost its weakened economy by paving the way for greater humanitarian aid, foreign investment, and international trade.
Earlier this year, Sharaa became Syria’s transitional president after leading the rebel campaign that ousted Assad, whose Iran-backed rule had strained ties with the Arab world during the nearly 14-year Syrian war.
The offensive that led to the fall of the Assad regime was spearheaded by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al-Qaeda affiliate.
Since then, Sharaa has repeatedly pledged to unify Syria’s armed forces and restore stability after years of civil war. However, the new government continues to face major hurdles in convincing the international community of its commitment to peace.
Incidents of sectarian violence — including the mass killing of pro-Assad Alawites in March — have deepened fears among minority groups about the rise of Islamist factions and drawn condemnation from global powers currently engaged in discussions on sanctions relief and humanitarian aid.
The post Syria to Give UN Watchdog Inspectors Access to Suspected Former Nuclear Sites as New Regime Seeks Sanctions Relief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Music Festival Showcases Tunnel Installation That Simulates Gaza Bombings
An outside view of the “Unsilence Gaza” installation at the 2025 Primavera Sound music festival. Photo: Screenshot
A reproduction of a tunnel that simulates the sound of bombings in the Gaza Strip is being showcased this year at Barcelona’s annual Primavera Sound music festival, which opened on Wednesday.
The unique installation, titled “Unsilence Gaza,” allows visitors to walk through a dark tunnel-like path where they hear noises of explosions as well as dramatic, ominous music. At the end of the tunnel, there is a wall with a message that says in English, Spanish, and Catalan: “Silence isn’t the opposite of the sound of bombs, it allows them to happen.” The outside of the installation features the message: “When everything blows up, don’t hide in the silence.”
The installation makes no mention of the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist organization that started the ongoing war with Israel after it orchestrated the deadly, mass terror attack across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
UNSILENCE GAZA #PrimaveraSound2025 Instalación de 15 metros de túnel que simula el ruido de un bombardeo a Gaza en el festival de #primaverasound de #barcelona pic.twitter.com/L7XnpF06u1
— Barcelona.lives (@BarcelonaLives) June 4, 2025
The installation was designed by Palestinian sound engineer Oussama Rima and is located by the main entrance of the annual music festival, held at the Parc del Fòrum. T-shirts and sweatshirts with the words “Unsilence Gaza” are also being sold at the festival and proceeds from the sales will be donated to the Palestinian Medical Relief Society to support emergency medical aid.
The Primavera Sound Foundation said on its website that the installation aims to remind people about the power of sound and how, especially in Gaza, it is associated with pain, fear, “torture and trauma.”
“We have normalized seeing war, but not listening to it,” the foundation said. “We live in a world saturated with violent images. Hypervisibility has anaesthetised us: we see, but we do not react. Sound, on the other hand, can still move us. At Primavera Sound, sound is emotion, connection, pleasure. But sound can also be the opposite: it can become a weapon. With this installation, we want to remind you that in Gaza and other parts of the world, sound is pain. It is fear. It is torture and trauma.”
In its statement, the foundation made no mention of Hamas or Israel. Instead, it talked about “genocide,” increased military spending, “warmongering rhetoric and attempts to criminalize and silence voices that defend peace.” The installation was conceptualized by the non-profit organizations Casa Nostra, Casa Vostra and the International Institute for Nonviolent Action (NOVACT), with support from the Primavera Sound Foundation.
More than 150 artists will perform at the Primavera Sound music festival this year including Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, Chappell Roan, FKA Twigs, HAIM, Fontaines D.C., IDLES and Magdalena Bay.
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Sephardic Jewish Film Festival in NYC to Feature Array of Movies Celebrating Culture, Tradition, History
A promotional image for the film “Giado: Holocaust in the Desert” being screened at the 2025 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival. Photo: Provided
The New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival (NYSJFF), also known as the Sephardic Film Festival, returns to New York on Sunday for a week-long celebration of films that spotlight the traditions, cultures, and histories of Sephardic Jews.
This year’s festival will features documentaries, feature films, and shorts that highlight stories set in Israel, Morocco, France, Turkey, and more. It kicks off on Sunday night with a Pomegranate Awards ceremony, whose honorees will include French-born Israeli singer Yael Naim, Iranian-American writer Roya Hakakian, and French-Tunisian actor and screenwriter Michel Boujenah. Acclaimed Brazilian Jewish singer-songwriter Fortuna will receive the ASF Pomegranate Lifetime Achievement Award for Preservation of Sephardic Culture. Fortuna will also perform at the opening night ceremony with Trio Mediterraneo and special guest Frank London, a Grammy-winning trumpeter and co-founder of The Klezmatics.
NYSJFF is organized by the American Sephardic Federation.
A documentary about Naim will make its world premiere at the film festival on Monday and the screening will be followed by a Q&A with Naim and the film’s director, Jill Coulon. Also screening on Monday is the 1985 French comedy “Three Men and a Cradle” starring Boujenah, who will participate in a Q&A after the screening. Boujenah won the coveted César Award for best supporting actor for his role in the film, which is about three adult friends who are enjoying their single life until they get stuck taking care of a baby.
The Sephardic Film Festival will additionally feature the North American premiere of the films “The Last Righteous Man (Baba Sali)” and “Jinxed.” The latter is a Hebrew-language comedy, directed by Hanan Savyon and Guy Amir, about two repairmen who go to fix a television and instead find a dead body in a client’s apartment. They are then mistaken for murder suspects and get mixed up with the mafia and police investigations, as bad luck follows them around.
The Sephardic Film Festival will also host the New York premieres of “Matchmaking 2,” “Neuilly-Poissy” and “The 90s – The Revelry — Hillula,” which was a box office hit in Israel.
The film festival line-up includes “Over My Dead Body,” which explores Persian-American Jewish traditions; a documentary short about efforts to preserve the Ladino language spoken by Sephardic Jews; and a film that highlights the first-hand testimony of Yosef Dadosh who, at the age of 20, was one of 3,000 Libyan Jews deported by the Italians to the Giado concentration camp during the Holocaust.
This year, the Sephardic Film Festival is part of a new, larger cultural festival called Festival Sefarad, which will be a citywide celebration of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities. Festival Sefarad will include film screening, musical performances, workshops, book talks, and Shabbat dinners throughout the month of June. The festival is organized by the American Sephardic Federation with support from the UJA-Federation of New York.
“Our inspiration to expand the 27th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival into the first-ever Festival Sefarad is the acute need, in the face of so much adversity and antisemitism, to create communal, intellectual, and cultural events that bring all Jews together,” Jason Guberman, executive director of the American Sephardi Federation, said in a statement. “With the support of the UJA-Federation of NY and 50 organizations throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan, Long Island, and Queens, the ASF is hosting over 40 events that showcase the dynamism, resilience, and joy of the Greater Sephardic world for Jews of all backgrounds and friends.”
The 27th New York Sephardic Jewish Film festival runs from June 8-June 15. The festival concludes with a live concert by legendary artist Enrico Macias. Tickets for the film festival are available online. The annual festival, which started in 1990, has previously screened films from Morocco, India, Yemen, Kurdistan, and more.
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