The Mobile World Congress has brought the Minister of Economy of Israel, Nir Barkat, to Barcelona. The controversial break in institutional relations between the City Council and Tel Aviv has not diminished his admiration for the city one iota. "I am convinced that relations between Israel and Barcelona will not only continue, but will flourish and improve," Barkat assured this morning, after visiting the synagogue of the Comunitat Israelita de Barcelona (CIB).
Barkat, who was mayor of Jerusalem for ten years, has displayed a conciliatory and collaborative spirit. "Israel loves Barcelona and it loves Spain". First of all, he highlighted the meeting with his counterpart and vice president Nadia Calviño. "We have seen that we have many things in common to develop between the two countries and I hope that after this trip we can improve exports and imports," she said.
His visit is the first made by a member of the Israeli government after the rupture of the twinning of Barcelona with Tel Aviv and Gaza, approved via mayoral decree and disapproved in the municipal plenary session. And also after the (previous) controversy over the approval in a parliamentary commission of a statement accusing the State of Israel of practicing apartheid, which led to the cancellation of a project by an institutional government delegation.
The minister has acknowledged that he has not been able to meet the mayoress, Ada Colau, "not on this trip, but I would like to speak with her; when I was mayor of Jerusalem I always made an effort to create bridges of collaboration, just as I do now as a minister" , Barkat insisted.
In addition to visiting the Mobile, the minister has been to ESADE to talk about innovation and then has visited the CIB synagogue. The president of the CIB council, Dalia Levinsohn and the vice president of the board of directors, Elisabet Buch, as well as the institutional director of the Jewish community and the Hatikva Foundation, Ari Messer, led the reception procession. During his visit, the minister spoke with a group of young people from the Barcelona Jewish community whom he encouraged "to give back to society what society gives you" and "to resolve conflicts through dialogue."
Nir Barkat has not commented on the latest violent events in the northern occupied West Bank, in what appears to be the worst outbreak of settler violence in decades.
