{"id":229598,"date":"2023-02-20T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=229598"},"modified":"2023-02-15T07:12:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T07:12:40","slug":"barcelona-mayor-cuts-citys-ties-with-israel-over-crime-of-apartheid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/02\/barcelona-mayor-cuts-citys-ties-with-israel-over-crime-of-apartheid\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona Mayor Cuts City\u2019s Ties with Israel over \u2018Crime of Apartheid\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, responds to the media at a press conference at the Barcelona City Hall on March 4, 2022, in Barcelona, Spain.
(Photo: David Zorrakino\/Europa Press via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“<\/em>We cannot be silent,” said Mayor Ada Colau.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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9 Feb 2023 – <\/em>Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau yesterday announced her city is cutting ties with Israel and ending its symbolic 25-year-old “twin cities” relationship with Tel Aviv over the Israeli government’s violent anti-Palestinian policies.<\/p>\n

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Colau said at a press conference that the city council came to its decision in response to campaigning by more than 100 rights groups and 4,000 residents, who urged her to cut ties with Israel.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leftist mayor said her constituents called on her to “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.”<\/p>\n

She added that she is “temporarily” suspending Barcelona-Israel relations “until the Israeli authorities put an end to the system of violations of the Palestinian people and fully comply with the obligations imposed on them by international law.”<\/p>\n

“We cannot be silent,” wrote Colau.<\/p>\n

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Barcelona\u2019s mayor Ada Colau announced on Wednesday that her city would suspend all ties with the Israeli government, as well as end its twin city agreement with Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

Colau cited Israel\u2019s \u201capartheid against the Palestinian people\u201d as the reason for her decision. pic.twitter.com\/AigBl48mJ7<\/a><\/p>\n

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) February 9, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n