Spanish Jewish community organisations and communities have sent an open letter to the Spanish Conference of Rectors (CRUE) denouncing the “complacency and permissiveness” regarding antisemitic demonstrations in Spanish universities.
The letter denounces the lack of condemnation of the savage attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023. That morning, the terrorist group killed more than 1,400 people and kidnapped another 240 in Israel. Over a hundred of them are still in the hands of the terrorists.
Despite the brutality and cruelty of the massacre perpetrated by Hamas, no condemnation statement was issued by the rectors of the various Spanish universities. Only after ten days, the CRUE released a statement: but it did so “not to condemn, but only to reject,” explains the letter. And the note precisely did not refer to the Hamas attack, but to the “military escalation.”
The letter accuses the rectors of allowing these antisemitic demonstrations “always masked under slogans supposedly pro-Palestinian, but of unmistakable jihadist origin.” This is how they describe the slogans that have appeared in graffiti and banners such as “Free Palestine” or “From the river to the sea, Palestine will prevail,” a slogan that directly advocates for the elimination of the State of Israel.
For the signatories, these events may constitute “possible hate crimes.” Especially, in the case of “particularly serious” other posters with inscriptions like “Zionists Out of the University.” In their opinion, this call for “exclusion,” even without containing the word “Jews,” concerned “the majority of Jews and Israelis who teach or study at Spanish universities.”
