The Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, is being sued by an American pro-Israel group over her decision in February to boycott Israel over its practice of apartheid, the Middle East Monitor reported on Thursday.
According to the Jewish News Syndicate, The Lawfare Project is suing Colau on behalf of the locally-registered charity, Barcelona Institute for Dialogue with Israel.
“Ms. Colau acted beyond the scope of her authority by infringing on the Spanish government’s power to conduct foreign policy and violated applicable legal procedures,” Lawfare is reported as saying.
Brooke Goldstein, Executive Director of the Lawfare Project, said that the boycott “represents a total misuse of the legal process to engage in a bigoted and partisan campaign, rather than a legal decision within the scope of the Mayor of Barcelona’s power”.
In a move welcomed by Palestinians, Barcelona issued a decree last February for the “temporary suspension” of relations with Israel as well as all of its institutions, including its twinning with the city of Tel Aviv, in protest against Israel’s apartheid practices.
Colau cited repeated violations of the human rights of the Palestinian population and non-compliance with United Nations resolutions in justifying the decision to boycott Israel.
The Lawfare Project claims that calling Israel an apartheid state is anti-Semitic and is campaigning vigorously for the adoption of the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.
