From Dr Shimon Samuels, Emeritus Director for International Relations, Simon Wiesenthal Centre
Paris, 24 May 2024
Mr. Prime Minister,
It is shocking to learn that Spain has unilaterally decided to recognize the “State of Palestine”.
It is shocking, because this political move is celebrated by Hamas, in their own words: “We consider this an important step towards affirming our right to our land.” Well, we all know what the terrorists want to be “their land” – the infamous “from the river to the sea.”
This means that 7 October – a day of infamy, rape, murder, destruction and kidnappings – has become de facto “the key date” of Palestinian statehood...
It is shocking because “Palestine” has territorial aspirations well beyond Gaza and the West Bank, and presses the so-called “right of return” involving millions of perpetual UNRWA refugees, thus raising international relations based on terror, blackmail and corruption.
Mr. Prime Minister, we remind you that Catalonia has been seeking independence for decades, and that Spain has repeatedly quashed its aspirations. Should we remind you of the ETA Basque nationalists who are now in jail on 30-year sentences for murder? In comparison to Hamas, PIJ and other terror groups, they are choirboys. But they are your problem, not ours!
Is it necessary to remind you that your ally Podemos has allegedly found inspiration and keeps historical ties to regimes that are openly against Israel’s right to exist, such as the Chavistas in Venezuela, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the ANC in South Africa, the Iranian Mullahs’ regime? Added to their anti-NATO and anti-EU stance, one wonders if their interests are for Spain and the Spanish people? But also that is your problem, not ours.
Do you need to be reminded of the crimes committed by Spain against the Jews during the Reconquista and the inquisition, and its recent policies to make amends? Is Spain not making the same mistake now, putting Israelis to the stake, thus de facto validating the murderous intent against Jews worldwide as in the Hamas Charter as also other Palestinian terrorist factions?
Mr. Prime Minister, we suggest that Spain focus on dealing with its own terrorists, rather than encouraging Palestinians to practice terror in Israel. We suggest that Spain investigates Iranian infiltration, especially through its media propaganda outlets in South America. We suggest that Spain allows the UN to decide whether Catalonia, the Basque Country or Galicia can become independent. You would be surprised!
Above all, we insist that you do not support the genocidal intent of Hamas. The Jewish People have wandered through millennia of persecutions to finally gather in their ancestral homeland, as a sovereign democratic State.
We would have hoped that you would volunteer to join the Abraham Accords or combat antisemitism in Spain, rather than playing into the hands of terrorists and hatemongers.
Above all, it is for Israel to deal with its neighbours, not Spain.
Respectfully,
Shimon Samuels
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Free all the hostages now!
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