The courts have opened a criminal case against the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, for temporarily suspending relations with Israel, including the twinning agreements between the Catalan capital and Tel Aviv, as reported by eldiario.es.
The former mayor made the decision on February 9 in response to the "apartheid" situation that the Palestinian people are experiencing and the "decades of systematic violations of human rights." Now, a magistrate has admitted for processing the complaint filed by the lawyer Francesc Jufresa and which points out that Colau and the then head of Global Justice and International Cooperation of the consistory could have committed a crime of prevarication.
The complaint was initially filed before the National Court, understanding that the effects of the alleged crime occurred in another country, Israel, but the court's response was that the competent courts were those of the Catalan capital. The main argument he defends is that the City Council does not have the power to make decisions that affect foreign policy, which would correspond to the Spanish government. It places special emphasis on the fact that Colau did not have the power to formally break relations with Israel, although the truth is that the approved decree referred only to the twinning with Tel Aviv.
Likewise, he also sees a possible hate crime, understanding that the letter that the former mayor sent to the country's prime minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, contained anti-Semitic references and affirmed that Israel was a racist state.
In the order, the judge also admits the complaint filed with the prosecution by the pro-Israeli Association and Communication on the Middle East. This entity is the one that already went to the contentious-administrative jurisdiction to request that the mayoral decree suspending relations be paralyzed, but the entry judge rejected the precautionary request to paralyze the decision.
Colau's decision to suspend the twinning with Tel-Aviv put an end to the friendship agreement signed by the then socialist mayor Joan Clos in 1998. The former mayor took it after the Basta Complicidad platform presented a petition to this effect, with more than 4,000 signatures and the adhesion of 80 entities.
The news generated discrepancies within the municipal government, since the then partners of BComú, the PSC, expressed their rejection. A monographic plenary session was held to address the issue. All the parties in the consistory, with the exception of the Republicans who abstained, voted against it, but Colau carried out the measure with a decree.
