The Israeli occupation has prevented Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona, Spain, from entering Israel due to his earlier statements against the occupation, according to a report by the Times of Israel.
Collboni was scheduled to arrive in Israel tonight but was informed at the last minute of the decision by the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority to deny him entry. He had planned to visit the Yad Vashem complex and hold meetings with the Palestinian Authority.
The Israeli move follows recent statements made by Collboni against Israel and comes about three months after the Barcelona City Council decided to cut ties with Israel and suspend a friendship agreement with Tel Aviv due to the “aggression and genocidal war in Gaza.”
Collboni was quoted at the time as saying, “The suffering and death in Gaza over the past year and a half, and the recent attacks launched by the Israeli government, make any relationship unsustainable.”
