During a visit by Spain’s Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez to the West Bank city of Hebron, dozens of Jewish settlers hurled insults at her. According to the ‘Jerusalem Post, one settler leader shouted: “Go home you anti-Semite, you hater of Israel!” Jiménez, who is currently on an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, arrived in Hebron’s Old City accompanied by Palestinian officials. IDF soldiers intervened to allow the foreign minister to continue her tour and kept the settlers at a distance. The activists were reportedly angry by Jiménez’s refusal to meet with Jewish residents of Hebron during her tour of the city, which lasted for more than two hours. A handful of settlers lined the side of the road and held up large banners, which referenced the fact that some of the Jews who fled Spain during the inquisition 500 years ago had made their way to Hebron. “Five hundred years ago, Spain exiled the Jews to Hebron. Does Spain now wish to exile the Jews from Hebron?” the signs asked.
Under a 1997 Israeli-Palestinian agreement, the Biblical city which houses the Cave of the Patriarchs was divided into a Palestinian-controlled section and an Israeli-controlled one. Israel controls the heavily-guarded historic part, while the Palestinians have autonomy in the rest. Spain is financing a renovation project of abandoned Arab homes located just outside the Cave of the Patriarchs. Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who met in Jerusalem with the minister in the evening, apologized for what she had experienced during her visit to Hebron. “Everyone needs to understand that even when there are disagreements, there is no room for personal attacks, especially regarding a high-level guest who more than once has expressed friendly opinions toward Israel,” he said.
