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Barcelona mayor severs ties with twin city of Tel Aviv, citing Israeli ‘apartheid’
(JTA) — Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau has announced that the city is no longer twinned with Tel Aviv, citing claims that Israel is guilty of “apartheid,” as well as “flagrant and systematic violation of human rights.”
Barcelona and Tel Aviv entered the relationship in 1998 — when both cities jointly signed a “twin city” agreement with Gaza City. Colau’s decision comes less than a year after Barcelona launched two linked campaigns — “Shalom Barcelona” and “Barcelona Connects Israel” to appeal to Jewish and Israeli tourists interested in exploring their heritage. Last summer, the city opened up the world’s first Michelin-starred kosher restaurant. .
The decision also comes less than a year after Barcelona suspended a twinning relationship with St. Petersburg in protest of to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“More than 100 organizations and over 4,000 citizens have demanded that we defend the human rights of Palestinians and for this reason, as mayor, I have written to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to inform him that I have suspended temporarily the institutional relationship between Barcelona and Tel Aviv,” Colau, a left-wing politician who has been mayor of Barcelona since 2015, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The Federation of the Jewish Communities of Spain condemned the decision, which it called “sophisticated antisemitism.”
In her letter to Netanyahu, dated Wednesday, Colau wrote that the petition from her constituents requested that her office “condemn the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people, support Palestinian and Israeli organizations working for peace and break off the twinning agreement between Barcelona and Tel Aviv.”
The proposal to end the twinning relationship was brought to the mayor’s office and the Barcelona City Council by a group called End Complicity with Israel, which has allied itself with also aligns with other social organizations focused on anti-racism, LGBTQ rights, and feminist advocacy. The proposal was initially on the agenda for a Jan. 27 plenary meeting of the council, but was postponed because the debate coincided with International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The debate was rescheduled for Feb. 24, but groups supporting the proposal demanded a quicker response from the mayor’s office.
The Federation of the Jewish Communities of Spain, the official representative of the Spanish Jewish community, had spoken out recently against the decision.
“We are concerned about the boycott campaign you are leading under the slogan ‘Barcelona says no to apartheid,’” the group said in a statement directed at the mayor. “Barcelona and Tel Aviv are open and welcoming societies, leading cities that attract startup investments and tourism. We call on the city council to allow Barcelona to continue to build bridges of harmony and avoid promoting a discourse of rejection and isolation.”
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Rubio Says US Is Getting Input on Gaza International Force, Will Discuss in Qatar
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio waves before boarding a plane as he departs for Doha from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 25, 2025. US President Donald Trump will meet on October 25 with the emir and prime minister of Qatar – a key ally in preserving the fragile Gaza peace deal – during a refueling stop on his way to Asia, officials said. Photo: Fadel Senna/Pool via REUTERS.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US officials are getting input on a possible UN resolution or international agreement to authorize a multinational force in Gaza and will discuss the issue in Qatar on Sunday.
“Many of the countries that have expressed an interest in participating at some level — whether it be monetary or personnel or both — are going to need that (a UN resolution or international agreement) because their domestic laws require it,” Rubio told reporters traveling on his plane between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “So we have a whole team working on that outline of it.”
The administration of President Donald Trump wants Arab states to contribute funds and troops for a multinational force to keep the peace in Gaza. Israel has rejected the idea of Turkish troops participating.
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Trump to Meet Qatar’s Emir Al-Thani En Route to Malaysia
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani speaks during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in Doha, Qatar, December 8, 2021. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – US President Donald Trump will meet with Qatar’s Emir and prime minister on Air Force One during a refuel stop in Qatar en route to Malaysia for a regional summit, a White House official said on Saturday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would join Trump in Qatar, the official added. The meeting is expected to be closed to press.
Qatar, a Major Non-NATO Ally and host of the largest American military base in the region, is also an ally and sponsor of Hamas, the jihadist Palestinian group sworn to Israel’s destruction that, on October 7, 2023, led the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
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Report: Hamas Terrorists Freed Under Ceasefire Deal Luxuriating in a 5-Star Cairo Resort
Hamas terrorists carry grenade launchers at the funeral of Marwan Issa, a senior Hamas deputy military commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
i24 News – Upward of 150 convicted Hamas terrorists released by Israel in exchange for hostages under a US-brokered ceasefire deal are staying in a luxury hotel in Cairo alongside unsuspecting Western tourists, the Daily Mail reported Saturday.
The group was among some 250 prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis. Israel agreed to the swap to secure the return of the last 20 living hostages. The move was met with some opposition in Israel, including from those whose loved one were murdered by the terrorists.
The Daily Mail reported that 154 of the released terrorists are staying at the five-star Renaissance Cairo Mirage City Hotel, whose guests are booking rooms without being forewarned that convicted terrorists are also staying on the premises.