The Administrative Court No. 10 of Barcelona has overturned the institutional declaration approved by the Municipal Plenary in 2023, which suspended relations between the Barcelona City Council and the State of Israel until a definitive ceasefire was achieved in Gaza.
The ruling, which has prompted the City Council to announce an appeal, stated that the decision sends a “clear negative message of estrangement and hostility” towards Israel and its citizens.
The resolution was challenged by Acción y Comunicación sobre Oriente Medio (ACOM), an organisation that argued the decision violated “freedom of ideology.”
The court upheld this challenge, finding several parts of the municipal resolution to be “contrary to law.” It criticised the City Council’s lack of justification for its claim that Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian territories and emphasised that such declarations convey a “clearly negative message of estrangement and hostility” towards Israel and its citizens, portraying them as culpable.
The court also stated that the City Council does not have the authority to make decisions on international policy or alter the legal framework for public procurement. This point referred to a clause in the resolution that sought to ban contracts with any company allegedly involved in the “genocide in Gaza.”
The resolution, passed on 23 November 2023, was spearheaded by the Comuns and marked the culmination of a long-standing controversy. In February 2023, then-Mayor Ada Colau unilaterally suspended relations with Israel, including the twinning agreement with Tel Aviv, through a mayoral decree. Colau resorted to this measure as she lacked the necessary votes to formalise the decision. Her action garnered support from various civil society organisations but faced criticism from multiple municipal groups.
When Jaume Collboni became mayor, one of his first actions was to restore relations with Israel and reinstate the twinning agreement on 1 September 2024. However, the events of 7 October, which triggered the war in Gaza, led the City Council to reverse its position, and relations were suspended again on 23 November. This time, the decision was formally voted on and received the backing of PSC, Comuns, and ERC.
ACOM is not the first organisation to challenge the Council’s actions. The Instituto Barcelona de Diálogo con Israel previously contested Colau’s initial decree, but the court dismissed their appeal. In this case, however, the ruling annulled the resolution, stating that it overstepped the City Council’s competencies and sent an unjustified message of hostility towards Israel.
