Israel rips anti-Zionist tribunal in Barcelona

MADRID (JTA) — The Israeli Embassy in Madrid likened a recent meeting in Barcelona of well-known anti-Zionists as a "lynching."

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine, held March 1-3 and largely funded by Barcelona City Hall, aimed to "examine on what level the European Union and its member states are complicit in the prolongation of the occupation of Palestinian territory and the violations on the part of Israel in the rights of the nation of Palestine.”

In an unusually harsh news release, the Israeli Embassy accused the “tribunal” of being carried out by “anti-Semites and anti-Israelis,” and likened the meeting to a
“lynching.”

“They didn’t call anyone to defend Israel at this event,” said Lior Haiat, spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Madrid. “The sentence was so foreseeable, like a jury made up exclusively of members of the KKK in a trial against a black man."

The eight-member tribunal found that "Israel has committed and continues to commit grave breaches of international law againt the Palestinian people." It called on the European Union and its member states to take "appropriate action" against Israel.

Members included notorious anti-Israel critics Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, the winner of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize; Cynthia McKinney, a former member of the U.S. Congress and a 2008 candidate for president with the Green Party; and Ronald Kasrils, a South African writer and activist.

The embassy said that having the meeting in Spain was not incidental, that it was largely connected to the “worrying situation of anti-Semitism” in the country.

“The fact that Barcelona City Hall has paid for a large part of this meeting, without a doubt, is connected to anti-Semitism in Spain,” according to the news release.

 A recent ADL survey showed that 74 percent of Spaniards believe the traditional stereotype that Jews hold too much power in international financial markets.