On Wednesday, the Spanish parliament’s lower house – the Congress of Deputies – almost unanimously adopted a motion urging the Spanish government to recognize Palestine as a state.

The following message was released by the Israel Foreign Ministry in response to that motion.

The Spanish parliament’s declaration only pushes away further the chances of reaching an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians because it encourages the Palestinians to take extreme positions. It would have been better had the Spanish parliament seen fit to denounce the abominable massacre in a Jerusalem synagogue carried out by Palestinians who were incited.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)