Since the beginning of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem, has wanted to explain to the Spanish-speaking world her vision of the war.
This Gibraltarian, a member of Likud, the party of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, came to the mayoralty of Jerusalem in 2018. After the signing of the Abraham Accords between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel in 2020, Fleur it was one of the main promoters of trade between these countries.
The agreements meant that the signatory countries normalized their relations with Israel, and distanced themselves from the Arab League's Peace initiative, which proposes to recognize the State of Israel in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian State. During a recent visit to Spain, La Vanguardia spoke with Fleur about this issue and others.
How do you see the future of cooperation with the countries of the Abraham agreements?
Interestingly, this is where the key to the Hamas attack on October 7 lies. Israel was about to make peace with Saudi Arabia and that did not go well with Iran. On the other hand, I am optimistic about Abraham's agreements. If these countries have made peace with Israel, they will not change their minds, because they want the region to move towards prosperity and peace. And they know that the other option is to fall into the destruction and fundamentalism that Iran seeks. Now everything is a bit cold, they cannot show that they support Israel because the Palestinian cause is something that moves a lot in the Muslim world. But I think this continues.
What do you think about the management of the war? His Government is receiving a lot of criticism for the lack of progress in the release of the hostages.
I won't criticize him because they are trying to get the kidnappers out. I'm with the relatives, I don't think this would have been a war priority without the very effective campaign they've done. Since the conflict began, we have had a unity government, there is a wider coalition that also includes the opposition. We reached October 7 with a very divided country, the least I expect from the Government is that during the war it is responsible for maintaining unity.
How do you deal with the negative image of Israel that is being formed by the war in Gaza?
It is very difficult, because this is what Hamas wanted. What country would not have tried to dismantle a terrorist regime that has attacked them so brutally? People seem to have forgotten October 7th, all they see is Israel bombing Gaza.
What impression do you have of the Spanish view of the current conflict?
From the beginning of the war I knew that the world's empathy with Israel would last 48 hours. That's how it was, after a few days they blamed us as if we had started it. The Spanish media were not left behind, but during this trip I did not find a combative atmosphere.
What measures has the Jerusalem mayor's office taken since the attacks on October 7?
We have the city with the largest Muslim population in the whole country, 40%. From the beginning of the war we feared that Jerusalem would become another focus of the conflict, but we have been quite calm. In addition, we have become a city of refuge for 50,000 evacuees mainly from the border with Lebanon. We are very busy helping these families.
The Palestinian community in Jerusalem is much poorer than the Jewish community. How do they combat this inequality?
We are making a lot of efforts in education. The Palestinians in Jerusalem follow the same program as in Gaza, full of hatred and anti-Semitism. They also do not learn Hebrew because the Palestinian leadership does not want their population to integrate. We are trying to implement a system in which Arabic is studied as the first language and Hebrew as the second. But it is very hard because, if we force it, people will say that we want to erase their identity. We also promote economic development, we are building a high-tech enterprise zone in East Jerusalem. We have Arab and Jewish women's empowerment programs. For 10 years we have been very deliberately strengthening the ties between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem.
How are these coexistence initiatives compatible with the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem? In 2016, the United Nations Security Council declared that settlements in this area of the city are a violation of international law.]
There are no settlements in Jerusalem, they are neighborhoods. There are Arabs who live in the western part of Jerusalem and Jews who live in the eastern part of Jerusalem. To me, if someone says "listen, there are some Arabs who have moved in next to your house", I would say welcome, and I would expect it to be the same in the opposite case. Otherwise, it would be racism.
