Katz announces Spanish consulate in Jerusalem will be prohibited from serving West Bank Palestinians

Foreign Minister Israel Katz says that the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem will no longer provide services to Palestinians from the West Bank following Spain’s announcement that it will recognize an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, and after a Spanish minister ended a speech by saying “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.”

“I have decided to sever the connection between the Spanish mission to Israel and the Palestinians, and to prohibit the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to Palestinians from the West Bank,” he says in a statement.

Referring to Spain’s Labor and Economy Minister Yolanda Díaz, who drew allegations of antisemitism for her use of the phrase “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” Katz says that if “this ignorant hate-filled person wants to truly understand what radical Islam wants, she should learn about the 700 years of Islamic rule in Al-Andalus — modern-day Spain.”

Tras el reconocimiento por parte de España de un Estado palestino y el llamado antisemita de la Vicepresidenta del Gobierno español a no conformarse con reconocer un Estado palestino "y liberar Palestina desde el río hasta el mar", he decidido cortar la conexión entre la…

— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) May 24, 2024