Spanish Politician Says Jews Everywhere Support Abuse of Palestinians

Far-left Spanish politician defiantly claims “Jews” are accountable for Israeli government actions.

By The Algemeiner

A politician from Spain’s leading far-left political party has courted accusations of anti-Semitism by declaring that Jews should be held accountable for the actions of the State of Israel toward the Palestinians.

Sonia Vivas —  a member of the leftist Podemos party and a city councilor in Palma, the capital of the eastern island of Mallorca — told a council meeting that “Jews” were voting for a government that abuses Palestinian rights. She also compared support for Israel with “institutionalized homophobia.”

“I haven’t spoken to all the Jews, but their government is elected and they’re voting for a government that constantly violates fundamental rights of Palestinians,” Vivas charged.

Asked by a journalist at last Wednesday’s meeting to clarify whether she meant Jews in general or Israelis specifically, Vivas curtly responded: “You didn’t understand me because you don’t want to understand me. My explanation was clear and comprehensive.”

Vivas’ remarks were made at city council meeting on international aid where a grant of 80,000 euros for Palestinian organizations in the West Bank was discussed.

When Vivas compared “Jews” voting for the Israeli government with Spanish citizens voting for a political party whose aim was to “institutionalize homophobia,” her fellow councilor Fulgencio Coll accused her of “insulting Israel.”

Noted Coll: “If you want to compare what you call the Palestinian conflict with homophobia, the best you could do is take an interest in the situation of gay and transgender people in Gaza and the West Bank. I cannot imagine a Pride Day parade in Palestine.”

Podemos has a long record of hostility toward Jews and Israel that it is cultivated by the party’s leadership.

Pablo Iglesias Turrión — the party’s leader who was appointed as second deputy prime minister in the Spanish cabinet last January — has denounced Israel as an “illegal country” and actively backed the international boycott campaign against the Jewish state.