Barcelona mayor restores twin city ties with Tel Aviv 

Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni has restored the twin city agreement with Tel Aviv that had been suspended by his predecessor Ada Colau. 

Socialist Collboni signed a mayoral decree to that effect on Friday, according to Pau Solanilla, Barcelona's commissioner for International Relations and City Promotion. 

The decision was taken to "correct" the positioning of Barcelona as a city that is a "bridge and in dialogue" with all cities of the Mediterranean and the world, Solanilla said. 

Tel Aviv represents "the best of Israel's progressive values," he said, adding that Barcelona's commitment to Palestine was "unequivocal." 

In fact, it was announced that Collboni's first trip as mayor outside of Europe will be to Palestine, where he plans to go before the end of the year. 

The one-paragraph decree stated that the mayor of Barcelona lifts the "suspension of the friendship and collaboration agreement" with the cities of Tel Aviv and Gaza signed in September 1998 and "consequently, restores institutional relations." 

Collboni served as Colau's deputy in the previous term, before being elected mayor himself in June 2023 after a last-minute plot twist in a divided chamber following municipal elections where Xavier Trias, backed by pro-independence Junts, topped the poll. 

Bowing to "Zionist lobby" 

Barcelona en Comú, Colau's party, accused Collboni of bowing to the "Zionist lobby." 

In a thread on X, previously Twitter, councilor Marc Serra criticized Collboni for deciding to "embrace Israel just when the state is going through its worst democratic crisis: governed by the far right, with a judicial reform that undermines the separation of powers, and an increase in violence against the Palestinian population."