Spanish police canceled the presentation by Dana Erlich, who oversees Israel's embassy in the country, scheduled to take place later this week at the Silken Indautxu Hotel in Bilbao.
Israel Hayom learned that the cause was threats written in response to the publication of Erlich's planned presentation. Among other things, through flyers distributed against her, which stated: "Zionists – not here, not anywhere! Cut all ties with Israel on the way to its dismantling."
Instead of securing the event, local police surrendered to the threats and canceled the Israeli official's presentation in the country – testimony to the new low in relations between the countries and in the spirit of the Spanish prime minister's recent statements against Israel.
The presentation's cancellation joins the halting of the Vuelta cycling race on Sunday due to protests against an Israeli team that participated in it, and demonstrations that erupted during it without police control. And of course, the government's measures announced a week ago that it would not permit the entry of two Israeli ministers: Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Several days ago, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar harshly criticized the Spanish government's conduct and even announced the imposition of personal sanctions against Spanish government members. Sa'ar said then, "It's remarkable that Spain's current leaders ignore what they did throughout history to the Jewish people."
"One of the greatest acts of ethnic cleansing in history was the expulsion of all Jews from Spain, not to mention the Inquisition, not to mention the forced conversion of religion. We decided, and I announce today, that we will not allow two Spanish government members to enter Israel, and we will not conduct any contact with them, after their consistent antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric."
He also said: "Unfortunately, the current Spanish government, the current Spanish prime minister, are crushed under pressure from very extreme parties, communists and others, who pressure them time after time to take steps against Israel."
"And now we drew a red line here, which proves we will not accept this from them anymore. And another thing I want to say: if they want to stop security ties with Israel, who do you think will lose from this? We don't need Spain to defend the Land of Israel. They apparently need Israeli capabilities much more than we need them."
