Valencia, Spain. Photo: Felivet via Wikimedia Commons.

A Spanish court has ruled that the City Council of Valencia violated the law when it voted to affiliate itself with an anti-Israel BDS group.

On May 31, 2018, the Council voted in favor of affiliating with the group ELAI, or “Space Free of Israeli Apartheid.” The resolution further stipulated that the council, its institutions and civil servants must refrain from any contact or cooperation with Israel.

The motion was supported by far-left and socialist parties on the Council, while the minority conservative and liberal parties opposed it.

After lawsuits filed by the Spanish pro-Israel group ACOM, which fights BDS and antisemitism in the country, Valencia’s Court Number 9 ruled on June 5 that the Council’s decision violated Article 14 of the constitution by subjecting potential contractors to ideological criteria.

“It is obvious that its aim was precisely to exclude from hiring persons and organizations in any way linked with or rooted in the State of Israel,” the court stated.

Angel Mas, the president of ACOM, said of the situation in the city, “The Valencian community is in a serious institutional situation due to the strong link of certain political parties with antisemite movements that are promoting from the institutions the hatred and discrimination against Jews.”