Spanish Podemos party leader Ione Belarra asked the government to prevent the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv and sports fans from entering Madrid, Spanish media El Pais reported on Monday.
The request was sent soon before Maccabi Tel Aviv was scheduled to play in a Euroleague basketball game against Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Belarra sent the letter to the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, and the Spanish Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
“We do not want the fans to glorify genocide,” said Organization Secretary Pablo Fernández in a press conference, El Pais quoted.
In the letter, Belarra referred to the war in Gaza and stated that she didn’t want to maintain relations with a country that commits ‘genocide’, El Pais reported.
She also claimed that her request was based on past violent attacks at sports games where Israeli teams were present, such as the pogrom that took place in Amsterdam in November of last year.
“In order to ensure respect for human rights and avoid incidents, we request that, in the exercise of their respective powers, they adopt appropriate security measures to prevent the entry into the country of entities and persons who support and provide cover for genocide and to cease any relationship with those who perpetrate it,” she wrote, according to El Pais.
Although attempts to cancel the Euroleague game were unsuccessful, a pro-Palestinian demonstration was planned for Tuesday in Madrid, coinciding with the basketball matchup between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Real Madrid, according to a recent article from The Jerusalem Post.
Belarra accusations against Israel
In December, Belarra accused Israel of committing genocide in Syria.
“Israel is taking advantage of the instability in Syria to advance its colonial and genocidal plan, bombing several areas, including Damascus,” Belarra wrote on social media.
“Virtually no Western media outlets are reporting on it. International inaction in the face of genocide endangers humanity as a whole,” she continued.