{"id":118199,"date":"2025-01-03T17:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T15:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=118199"},"modified":"2025-01-03T13:53:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T11:53:44","slug":"06-00-111","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=118199","title":{"rendered":"Spanish Far-Left Leader\u2019s 2025 \u2018Wishes\u2019 Spotlight \u2018Genocide\u2019 Against Palestinians Before Mentioning Own Country"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Spanish Far-Left Leader\u2019s 2025 \u2018Wishes\u2019 Spotlight \u2018Genocide\u2019 Against Palestinians Before Mentioning Own Country<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Algemeiner Staff<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Ione Belarra, secretary general of the Spanish far-left party Podemos, has accused Israel of committing \u201cgenocide\u201d against Palestinians in Gaza. Photo: Reuters\/David Canales<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The leader of an influential far-left Spanish political party who recently served as a government minister this week discussed her \u201cwishes\u201d for the new year, calling for an end to so-called \u201cgenocide\u201d against the Palestinians and the return of \u201cstolen lands\u201d to them before making any mention of her home country of Spain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy wishes for 2025: that the genocide against the Palestinian people ends, that the stolen lands are returned and that the guilty are brought to justice. Also, that the people of my country have a decent roof over their heads without having to spend their salaries and their lives trying to do so. A hug to all of you,\u201d Ione Belarra posted on X\/Twitter on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Belarra, who served as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez\u2019s social rights minister between 2021 and 2023 but is no longer in the governing coalition, is now secretary general of the Spanish\u00a0hard-left\u00a0party Podemos (\u201cWe Can\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Spanish politician\u2019s message for the new year was in line with her seemingly obsessive focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and fierce criticism of the Jewish state since Hamas\u2019s invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, for example,\u00a0Belarra accused Israel of \u201cgenocide\u201d in Syria<\/a>\u00a0following the recent collapse of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is taking advantage of the instability in Syria to advance its colonial and genocidal plan, bombing several areas, including Damascus,\u201d Belarra posted on X\/Twitter. \u201cVirtually no Western media outlets are reporting on it. International inaction in the face of genocide endangers humanity as a whole.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Belarra appeared to be referencing recent\u00a0limited Israeli military operations<\/a>\u00a0to eliminate much of Syria\u2019s strategic weapons arsenal and secure the buffer zone along Israel\u2019s northeastern border amid uncertainty about the future of Syria. There has been no evidence to indicate Israel\u2019s military activities have resulted in mass casualties or are meant to achieve anything beyond short-term border security with a neighboring country that just underwent a regime change following a years-long civil war.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such a focus on Israel is not new for Belarra, however.<\/span><\/p>\n

Less than three weeks after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 massacre, Belarra posted a video on X\/Twitter calling on European Union (EU) nations to\u00a0sever diplomatic ties with Israel<\/a>\u00a0and comparing Jerusalem\u2019s defensive war against Hamas with Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. She also demanded stiff economic sanctions against the Jewish state and the prosecution of its leaders for \u201cwar crimes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

More recently, Belarra and her Podemos party threatened to withhold its crucial support for next year\u2019s budget unless the\u00a0government breaks diplomatic relations with Israel<\/a>\u00a0among other actions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanchez\u2019s socialist-led government, which relies on a coalition of smaller parties to approve legislation, needs the votes of the four Podemos lawmakers in the lower house for the\u00a0budget\u00a0to pass.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Sanchez also requires support from some center-right parties that will have their own conditions to back the\u00a0budget, creating a tough balancing act for the Spanish premier.<\/span><\/p>\n

In October, Belarra said in a video message that her party would only support next year\u2019s budget if the government \u201cimmediately breaks off diplomatic and trade relations with the genocidal state of Israel.\u201d Her second condition was for Madrid to \u201ctackle the housing crisis by lowering rents by 40 percent by law, banning the purchase of houses by anyone who\u2019s not going to live in them, and dismantling squadron commandos,\u201d a reference to private companies that mediate in squatting situations to evict occupants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Belarra added in a tweet: \u201cBreaking relations with Israel and lowering rent prices by law is the minimum that can be demanded of a self-proclaimed progressive government. We need all your support to twist the [government\u2019s] arm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Senior Podemos official Javier S\u00e1nchez Serna echoed the same point at the time, saying, \u201cPedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s government has been veering to the right for months and it\u2019s going to get worse if someone doesn\u2019t stand up. If the [government] wants to pass the 2025 budget, it will have to meet the two conditions proposed by Podemos: break relations with Israel and intervene in housing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite Belarra and Podemos\u2019s criticisms of the government, Spain under Sanchez has been one of the\u00a0most vocal critics of Israel<\/a>\u00a0since Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 atrocities in southern Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

In October, Sanchez urged other members of the EU to suspend the bloc\u2019s free trade agreement with Israel over its military campaigns against Hamas in Gaza and the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanchez\u2019s demand came three days after the Spanish premier\u00a0urged other countries to stop supplying weapons<\/a>\u00a0to the Jewish state.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities,\u00a0Spain launched a diplomatic campaign<\/a>\u00a0to curb Israel\u2019s military response. At the same time, several Spanish ministers in the country\u2019s left-wing coalition government issued pro-Hamas statements and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with Belarra falsely accusing Israel of \u201cgenocide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

More recently, Spanish officials said they would\u00a0not allow ships carrying arms<\/a>\u00a0for Israel to stop at its ports. The US Federal Maritime Commission recently opened an investigation into whether Spain, a NATO ally, has been denying port entry to cargo vessels reportedly transporting US weapons to Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spain stopped its own defense companies from shipping arms to Israel in October 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

In May,\u00a0Spain officially recognized a Palestinian state<\/a>, claiming the move was accelerated by the Israel-Hamas war and would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli officials described the decision as a \u201creward for terrorism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Spain, like many other countries around the world,\u00a0experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents<\/a>\u00a0targeting the Jewish community following Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 massacre.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two weeks after the onslaught, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) warned of \u201cthe greatest escalation of antisemitism in Spain in recent times.\u201d A statement from the FCJE on the upsurge in antisemitism highlighted the statements of Belarra, who at the time was Spain\u2019s social rights minister and had already accused Israel of \u201cgenocide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe demonstrations against Israel, the burning of Israeli flags, the proclamations calling Israel a murderer, genocidal, and the author of a planned ethnic cleansing, as Minister Ione Belarra has reiterated on several occasions, have inflamed [the situation],\u201d the FCJE observed.<\/span><\/p>\n

After attending a pro-Hamas demonstration in Madrid exactly two weeks after the Hamas atrocities, before Israel launched its ground campaign in Gaza, Belarra tweeted, \u201cDignity has filled the streets of Madrid, [which] today urged the end of the genocide that Israel is planning against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. Freedom for Palestine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Spanish Far-Left Leader\u2019s 2025 \u2018Wishes\u2019 Spotlight \u2018Genocide\u2019 Against Palestinians Before Mentioning Own Country Algemeiner Staff Ione Belarra, secretary general of the Spanish far-left party Podemos, has accused Israel of committing \u201cgenocide\u201d against Palestinians in Gaza. Photo: Reuters\/David Canales The leader of an influential far-left Spanish political party who recently served as a government minister this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118199"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118225,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118199\/revisions\/118225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}