A widespread power outage paralyzed Spain on Monday following the collapse of the national electrical system, according to a report from El Mundo.

Certain regions in Portugal and France were also affected by the incident. Power has not yet been restored in cities such as Seville, Barcelona, and Pamplona, while Barajas Airport remains without electricity, and the Valencia metro has ceased operations. Telephone networks have also collapsed in many areas, affecting electronic payment systems throughout the region.

Spain's grid operator, Red Eléctrica, announced that restoring power could take up to 10 hours. The company announced it had activated an emergency plan to restore supply. The company reported that a "total blackout" – a complete collapse of the electrical system on the Iberian Peninsula – had occurred, and the causes of the failure are still being investigated. According to the company, all resources are currently dedicated to attempting to restore the power grid and resume services as soon as possible.

- On April 28, 2025, a significant power outage continues to affect Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and parts of France, with no immediate resolution in sight.

The blackout has disrupted electricity supply in major cities, including Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona, as… pic.twitter.com/fAxRdUd1oB

— The Informant (@theinformant_x) April 28, 2025

Power grid officials emphasized that such collapses can be caused by a sharp surge in demand that cannot be met, or by excess production that destabilizes the system. Despite continuous balancing efforts during normal operations, a total collapse can occasionally occur, as happened in this case. Recovery operations are now underway throughout the country.

The power outage has also affected Andorra and large parts of France and Portugal, with disruptions to power and communication networks continuing without an immediate solution in sight. The Spanish Interior Ministry called on the public to remain calm, but no official statement has yet been issued by the government.

Total power outage across Spain and Portugal. Currently waiting for a train and all trains suspended. pic.twitter.com/tF9Feo1lRr

— Crypto Trader Simon (@cryptotrader_si) April 28, 2025

Travelers caught in the blackout described scenes of confusion and disruption. Maddie Sephton, a west London resident who was on the Madrid Metro when the outage occurred, experienced the sudden shutdown firsthand: "We got on the train and everything was fine," she told Sky News. "But then everything went dark." After being trapped for 20 minutes, the metro staff manually opened the train doors. Sephton, who was heading to the airport, had to climb 15 flights of stairs with her luggage to exit the station. "People are just walking but have nowhere to go, and nothing to do," she observed of the scene in Madrid.

Air traffic in Spain and Portugal is being impacted by widespread electrical outages affecting both countries. We're not yet seeing widespread cancellations, but we are monitoring the situation as it develops. pic.twitter.com/tFo3k4cHHn

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) April 28, 2025

According to initial reports, the failure was likely caused by a breakdown in the connected European power grid, with high demand for electricity and challenges in integrating renewable energy sources contributing to the worsening situation. The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) is working to stabilize the grid and restore the power supply.

Authorities in the affected countries are prioritizing power supply to essential infrastructure, including hospitals and emergency services. Public concern is growing on social media, with users reporting severe disruptions to daily routines and business operations. Data from Spain's national power grid shows a decrease of more than 10 gigawatts in demand, from approximately 26 gigawatts to about 12 gigawatts within seconds. The cause remains unknown.

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The regional government of Madrid, working alongside the Israeli Embassy in Spain, has awarded special recognition to Israeli women who fell victim to the Hamas attacks of October 7, coinciding with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The event, which featured powerful testimony from former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky, stands in contrast to recent European criticism of Israel.

Gritzewsky was abducted that fateful Saturday from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside her partner Matan Zangauker and freed approximately a year ago, stood as the representative to receive the award on behalf of all the Oct. 7 female victims.

Addressing an emotionally charged and supportive audience, Gritzewsky courageously recounted the severe abuse she endured during her captivity. She issued a powerful call to raise awareness, unite in the fight against terrorism, and maintain unwavering efforts to secure the release of remaining hostages, including her partner.

Minister for Social Equality Ana Redondo García presented the award, declaring that Madrid now serves as a voice for those who remain voiceless.

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"Israel is a democracy that uses democratic tools to discuss its internal affairs," President of the Community of Madrid Isabel Díaz Ayuso told Israel Hayom in a recent interview earlier in February. Díaz Ayuso stressed that the judicial reform the Israeli government is leading is an internal matter. "To me, it seems natural and normal that there are debates on these matters. What I saw was people freely discussing ways to improve their democracy," she said.

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Díaz Ayuso is a rising star in Spain's politics and is expected to launch a bid for prime minister in two years. In contrast to many public figures in her country, she is openly and unequivocally pro-Israeli and pro-Jewish. "We have always loved Israel and I have always felt close to it and to the Jewish community, in Madrid and Spain in general, and we wanted to convey this message to the State of Israel and strengthen our bond," she says.

The president of the community of Madrid visited Israel on Sunday and met with, among others, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the Head of Israel's National Security Council Tzachi Hanegbi, Economy Minister Nir Barkat, entrepreneurs in technology, businesspeople, and senior officials in the medical field.

There was an air of tension during the visit after the Barcelona mayor decided to end the Twin Cities agreement with Tel Aviv and sever its ties with the Israeli government, following an initiative made by boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement activists and left-wing parties, who claimed that: "Israel is committing crimes against the Palestinian people.

"The decision does not represent Catalonia or Spain," Díaz Ayuso said in the interview.

Q: How did you respond to the Barcelona mayor's decision to annul the ties with Tel Aviv?

"We did not like this decision at all. It represents neither Catalonia nor Spain. We wanted to clarify this by visiting. I do not think this is the time to sever ties with a country with which we have so much in common. I do not understand what message she wanted to convey. We think that placing a question mark on Israel is not logical, and the consequences for doing so will only be negative."

Q: In your opinion, what led to the decision?

"The problem begins with people not knowing Spain's history. In general terms, Spain is not a country of discrimination. We have no conflicts and do not know the reality in Israel well enough. Coming to Israel, or speaking with Israelis, is vital in understanding the reality here. Otherwise, what you get is a narrative of violence, which leads to violence, and this is now the only thing you know about Israel. This is not something I will contribute to because it is simply not the truth."

Díaz Ayuso added, "For me, Israel is a way of looking at life and freedom." She went on to share her affinity with our country. "The fact that you need to think about your existence, as a nation that deals with much hate ... instead of being a place of sadness, Israel is one of the most creative countries in the world. It has technology, agriculture, the ability to overcome obstacles, and imagination. I would hope that other countries in the world have many of these qualities."

True to her words, Díaz Ayuso strengthened the Community of Madrid's ties with the Jewish community and passed a series of resolutions against the boycott of Israel. On her visit to Israel, she was accompanied by dozens of businesspeople, who agreed to cooperate with Israeli colleagues in technology and health.

In addition, Díaz Ayuso promoted the establishment of a Hispanic-Jewish Museum that will portray the relations between the Jewish people and the world's Spanish speakers. She received her inspiration from her tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and hopes that "this museum will have an exhibition about the Righteous Among the Nations.

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Ahead of the forthcoming regional Madrid elections on May 4, Action and Communication on the Middle East, a leading organization in the fight against antisemitism in Spain, has launched a campaign called "Vote in Conscience" to warn of the issue's importance to the regional government of 6 million citizens, including the largest Jewish community in Spain.

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ACOM is calling on voters to voice their opposition to antisemitic far-left parties, such as Unidas Podemos and Más Madrid, and presidential candidate Pablo Iglesias.

"That the people of Madrid could elect a paid propagandist of Iran who is an open antisemite should be unfathomable," President of ACOM Angel Mas said. "Voting for Iglesias and these two parties is voting for the discrimination of Jews, and ostracization of Jewish life and the community in a city, which is rebuilding itself after 500 years. Normalized Jewish life is at risk in these elections. We call on our neighbors who care about decency, non-discrimination and democracy to oppose these parties and those who provide them legitimacy by sitting in a government with them."

The Madrilenian regional election elects the regional parliament known as the Assembly of the Community of Madrid.

Iglesias, until recently Spain's radical-left deputy prime minister and leader of Unidas Podemos who quit his position to run for the position of Madrilenian president, has a history of making antisemitic and anti-Israel statements, according to ACOM.

Comments include that "the great Wall Street companies are practically all in the hands of Jews," "the Jewish lobby supports initiatives against the peoples of the world," "the Holocaust was a mere bureaucratic problem," and that "Israel is a criminal state" and "an illegal country."

He also worked for HispanTV, Iran's propaganda mouthpiece to the Spanish-speaking world.

Mas also said that the two parties, Podemos and Más Madrid, tried to approve a motion in the Madrid parliament for the region to formally join the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, "as they successfully did in around 100 Spanish cities and regions."

"That would have made Madrid – the capital region of Spain and center of Spain's social, political and economic relations – a ghetto that would have excluded the citizens of the Jewish state and any pro-Israel Spanish citizens from any type of commercial, social, cultural or civic relationship with the regional administration," he said. "This would have a severe and chilling effect."

Activities masked under the BDS umbrella

According to Mas, ACOM is the primary organization in the fight against antisemitism in Spain, both from a political and legal perspective.

"Politically, we reach out to the many friends we have in Spain – democratic constitutional parties that are willing to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, not just theoretically, but with teeth, so that our courts can prosecute more effectively antisemitic initiatives disguised as anti-Zionism, and defund antisemitic groups and activities masked under the BDS umbrella," he told JNS.

Mas noted that there are also non-Jewish politicians who are speaking out "very openly" against Iglesias and the anti-Israel parties.

For example, the incumbent president of the Madrid regional government, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, is a staunch pro-Israel supporter and was awarded the Or Chanukah prize from the Madrid Jewish community this year for her focus on the Holocaust and Spanish Jewish historical roots.

"There are many others in her party, Partido Popular [center right], in the national conservative Vox (third party in Congress) and on the centrist Ciudadanos," Mas said.

He added that ACOM's second angle of work deals with the law and noted the organization's many successes in fighting antisemitism disguised as anti-Israel activism in Spain.

"Unidas Podemos, Más Madrid and their multiple local franchises have promoted over 100 declarations of boycott against Israelis and Spanish pro-Israel citizens and companies in municipalities, provinces and regions in Spain," he said.

"They declared those areas 'spaces free of Israeli apartheid' and excluded any social, political or economic contact with anybody related to Israel. We have taken them to court. So far, we have won 78 cases and lost none. The tribunals considered those declarations, promoted by those parties, unconstitutional and discriminatory."

Extremism becomes stronger with time

Gabriel Perry Prissialni, president of Bet-El, one of the Jewish communities in Madrid, told JNS he believes the campaign is important "because we are witnesses to a raw antisemitism in the extreme-left parties like Podemos and their local franchises."

"Of course," he emphasized, "it's antisemitism in disguise of anti-Israel and Israeli positions. We can't look the other way; we know how these things end."

"We didn't have real antisemitism in Spain until the entrance of the extreme-left parties to the political arena a few years ago," he said. "These parties call openly and directly to boycott Israel, Israeli companies, artists, products and even academic speakers in universities. They are very radical, and their extremism becomes stronger with time."

Prissialni noted that the only country that Podemos calls to sanction and boycott is Israel. "I don't say Israel is perfect, but to mention the Jewish [state] among the nations as [being] the only country to fight shows how much they hate us."

Mas emphasized that ACOM's campaign is not limited to Jewish voters.

"We call on our fellow Madrid citizens," he said. "When they vote, it will not be merely about political options and proposals. It will be about civil rights of the members of a minority – in this case, the Jewish minority that would be discriminated against for who they are."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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