Israel cut relations between the Spanish Consulate in occupied East Jerusalem and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Friday, following Spanish joint recognition of the State of Palestine along with Ireland and Norway on Wednesday, as second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz announced, “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz stated that in response to the Spanish move and the “anti-Semitic” call by “Spain’s deputy prime minister to not just recognize a Palestinian state but to ‘liberate Palestine from the river to the sea,’ I have decided to sever the connection between Spain’s representation in Israel and the Palestinians,” reported Middle East Monitor on Friday.
Katz also stated that he would prohibit the Spanish Consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to Palestinians from the West Bank.
“If this ignorant, hate-filled individual wants to understand what radical Islam truly seeks, she should study the 700 years of Islamic rule in Al-Andalus – today’s Spain,” Katz added.
Deputy Premier Yolanda Diaz’s statements came on Thursday at the end of a social media video in which she highlighted that Spain’s decision to recognize Palestinian statehood is only the beginning.
This is the first time Israel has attempted to penalize countries that acknowledge the State of Palestine.
The recognition comes as Israel continues its onslaught in the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 35,800 Palestinians, the great majority of whom are women and children.
More than seven months into Israel’s assault, enormous areas of Gaza lay in ruins, with a severe siege on food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice, which has ordered it to ensure that its forces do not commit genocide and to take steps to ensure that people in Gaza get humanitarian aid.
Ambassadors of all three of these countries which announced their recognition of Palestine, incidentally, were recalled and chastised by the Israeli Foreign Ministry in what amounted to a temper-tantrum, with these diplomats being forced to watch a video of (what was allegedly) Hamas member’s violence against abducted female IDF soldiers.