Barcelona Municipality Cuts Ties with Israel and Freezes Twin City Agreement with Tel Aviv

Barcelona City Council voted on Friday to sever institutional ties with the Israeli government and suspend the twinning agreement with Tel Aviv "until international law is respected and the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people are guaranteed."

The resolution, which includes approximately twenty articles, was supported by the city's ruling Socialist Party and a number of left-wing and pro-independence parties.

The resolution stipulated severing institutional ties with the current Israeli government and suspending the twinning agreement concluded on September 24, 1998, between the Catalan capital and Tel Aviv.

"The level of suffering and death witnessed in Gaza over the past year and a half, in addition to the repeated attacks launched by the Israeli government in recent weeks, makes any relationship between the two cities unsustainable," explained Barcelona's Socialist mayor, Jaume Colbone.

Among other measures included in the resolution, some of which fall outside the municipality's jurisdiction, the Barcelona Expo Board of Directors was asked not to host Israeli government pavilions or "arms companies or any other sector that profits from genocide, occupation, apartheid, and colonialism against the Palestinian people."

A similar recommendation is being considered regarding the port of Barcelona, to bar ships involved in arms transfers to Israel.

It's worth noting that this isn't the first time Barcelona has suspended its relations with the Israeli government. In February 2023, former mayor and social activist Ada Colau decided to "suspend its relations with Israel," as well as its twinning agreements with the Tel Aviv municipality. The decision was suspended a few months later when Jaume Colbone won the municipal elections.