Overview
- The U.S. Department of State’s 2024 human-rights report, released August 12–13, publicly names Podemos leader Ione Belarra for organizing a June 3, 2024 event in the Congreso where speakers praised Hamas’s October attack and denied Israel’s right to exist.
- Interior Ministry data cited in the report show antisemitic hate crimes rose from 13 in 2022 to 23 in 2023, with incidents spanning online hate, threats of violence and property vandalism.
- Civil-society observers, including the Red Académica contra el Antisemitismo and the Jewish Communities’ observatory, documented a hostile campus climate featuring harassment of Jewish students and slogans like “from the river to the sea.”
- The report reiterates NGO criticisms that Spain’s 2015 citizen-security law, known as the ley Mordaza, continues to curb protests, press freedoms and the work of rights defenders.
- Belarra hailed the U.S. citation as “an honor” and a show of solidarity with Palestine, while opponents argue the finding deepens political polarization over public discourse; no legal measures have been announced.