Wiesenthal Centre to President of Spanish Congress: "Coalition Partner Podemos Leads Defamatory Attack on Israel" 

In a letter to Dr. Meritxell Batet Lamaña, President of the Spanish Congress of Deputies (lower chamber of Parliament), Dr. ShimonSamuels, Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, expressed concern "in regard to the 10 March article of Podemos, due for discussion in your Congress Commission of Foreign Affairson 29 March."

"We understand that Podemos, as a member of your coalition, is reportedly close to Iran and, as such, fanatically,anti-Israel."

The letter continued: "Thus its' initiative in your Parliament is a defamatory list of lies from six so-called Palestinian NGOs,stamped and signed by Amnesty International, that has recently denied the right of Israel to be a Jewish State. The same applies sadly to Save the Children. Arguably, much of fundraising is basedon castigating the Jewish State."

Samuels stressed that, "The claims of Save the Children in Podemos’ argument is dated for 2020, that between 500 and 700 minors werearrested for throwing stones." "They were to become more violent in stabbing and eventually with firearms,

According to DCI Palestine, Save the Children’s primary source, 29 minors were detained between 2008 and 2020. They continue, “thesewere victims of verbal aggression.”

Another quoted source argued, “The Israeli army killed at least 31 Palestinians, including 9 minors in the Gaza Strip and, duringthe 2001 May War, six children in small villages. They also claim that, “400,000 male and female Palestinian youth are vulnerable, of whom 300,000 suffer psychosocial mental disorders.”

The Centre noted "the role of terrorist organization Hamas - in charge of Gaza and whose charter includes 'murdering Jews (notonly Israelis), wherever they may be.' The so-called May War, launched by Hamas, showed children used as human shields and schoolyards as launchpads for rockets directed at Tel Aviv."

"Podemos does not speak of the Israeli losses in that war and the years of bombings from Gaza over the Israeli town of Sderot, on adaily basis, rendering its children certainly suffering from post traumatic stress disorder... Podemos’ demand for compensation for destroyed schools - that had been financed by Spain -should be addressed to Hamas."

Samuels asked, "Where are the Human Rights of Palestinian children whose mothers, on television, express pride in thedeaths of their sons and daughters as suicide bombers, tasked with murdering as many Jews as possible?"

The letter continued, "This warped mentality is countered by the sanctity of all life in Judaism... Whereas, the true picture isfound in Israeli hospitals, where the Jewish doctor holds the newborn Arab baby, matched by his Palestinian-Israeli colleague cuddling a newborn Jewish baby."

"Madam President, the coming debate should conclude in requesting Podemos to demand its Iranian friends to put an end to publichangings, the stoning of women and the incarceration of minorities, foreigners or children who dare speak out freely," concluded Samuels.

For further information contact Dr. Shimon Samuels at csweurope@gmail.com, join theCenter on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitterfeed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizationswith over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the LatinAmerican Parliament (Parlatino).