Activists rally at Spanish embassy in Tel Aviv to celebrate Madrid’s recognition of a Palestinian state

About two dozen people gather outside the Spanish embassy in central Tel Aviv to congratulate the country on its recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Protesters carry signs and chant in Hebrew, Arabic and Spanish, calling on Spain to “stop considering – recognize” an independent Palestinian state, as Madrid’s decision to do so has not yet come into effect.

Several of the attendees also sported signs calling for other countries in the EU to follow Spain’s lead.

Spain’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, announced earlier this week in tandem with the governments of Norway and Ireland, is set to take effect May 28.

Several left-wing organizations are represented, including the Israeli-Palestinian civil society group Combatants for Peace; the binational communist party Hadash; and the Young Communist League of Israel.

At one point, a passerby assails the activists, telling them she is from Kibbutz Reim — one of the Gaza border communities attacked in Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught in southern Israel, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, sparking the ongoing war that has devastated Gaza.

The rally ends with a chorus of “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido” (“the people united will never be defeated”), a Spanish-language Chilean protest song.

Some 20 Israeli protesters outside the Spanish embassy in central TLV Fri morning:

'Good morning dear ambassador, recognize Palestine now!' pic.twitter.com/LGoyBZhYrS

— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) May 24, 2024

Eli Gozansky, a Hadash activist, tells The Times of Israel that protesters hoped to convince EU member states “to make one diplomatic step to press Israel, which has the most extreme government ever,” to accept a political settlement creating a Palestinian state alongside an Israeli state, with Jerusalem as a joint capital, and address the plight of Palestinian refugees.

“This kind of way gives hope, and when there is hope, the people will respond,” says Gozansky.

“Both people are now in a very deep hole,” Gozansky adds, bemoaning what he describes as the “revenge psychology” that has taken root in Israel.

“An eye for an eye will leave us all blind,” says Gozansky.

A Spanish embassy worker had come to speak to the protesters “just to understand who we are politically,” Gozansky notes.