Spain's Anti-Semitism: Continuing "Lawfare," Selective Application of the Law

Soeren Kern
Hudson New York
03 November '10

Spain has become a haven for anti-Israel lawfare.

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who makes no secret of his dislike of Zionism, is well known in Spain for his anti-Israel and anti-Jewish outbursts. At a dinner party in the Moncloa Palace (the Spanish White House) in 2005, for example, Zapatero addressed his guests by launching into a tirade of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric that ended with the phrase: "It is understandable that someone might justify the Holocaust."

Now, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez, who took office on October 21, has decided to keep in place the anti-Israel "lawfare" policies of her predecessor, Miguel Ángel Moratinos. The disclosure came after Justice Minister Francisco Caamaño Domínguez and she refused to grant diplomatic immunity from arrest or interrogation to former Shin Bet Chief MK Avi Dichter (Kadima party), who was planning on taking part in a seminar on the Middle East peace in Madrid on October 29-30.

Dichter is being accused of "war crimes and crimes against humanity" by pro-Palestinian activists who are using -- some are saying: abusing -- Spanish courts to prosecute more than a dozen Israeli political and military leaders by means of the legal concept called "universal jurisdiction."

Dichter was forced to cancel his trip to Spain at the last minute over fears he would be arrested and possibly imprisoned by Spanish authorities. Dichter faces legal action in Spain over complaints against him for his involvement in the assassination of Salah Shehadeh, a top Hamas militant, in 2002, when Dichter was head of the Shin Bet security agency, and for his involvement in Operation Cast Lead during the winter of 2008-2009, when Dichter was Israel's Minister of Public Security.

(Read full article)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.