Tight Relations Between Europe and Israel & more – 30th Nov 2023

Buenos días from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Spain Update from the 30th of November twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Spain.

Kicking off this week’s episode, diplomatic relations between Israel, Spain, and Belgium are generally pretty tight.

However, over the weekend, Eli Cohen, Israeli's Foreign Minister, accused on Twitter Pedro Sanchez and Alexander De Croo, the Belgium president, of supporting terrorism.

Diplomatic tensions intensified after Sanchez and De Croo flew to Israel last week. Sánchez's comments during meetings and press conferences were met with strong rebuttals from many Israeli officials. Sánchez has consistently questioned Israel's actions in Gaza, citing unbearable civilian casualties while reminding Israel to respect International humanitarian law.

Cohen retaliated on his Twitter feed, dismissing Sánchez's comments as false and accusing the EU countries of supporting terrorism.

Spain isn't the only country to question Israel's actions. While acknowledging their right to self-defense, David Cameron, the UK's Foreign Minister, has also commented on the extremely high death toll of Palestinian people.

On Friday, the 24th, Sánchez called for the EU to officially and unilaterally recognize the state of Palestine. Currently, nine out of the twenty-seven member states already do, including Sweden, Malta, Hungary and Cyprus.

If the EU officially and unilaterally recognized it, Palestine would gain a significant diplomatic boost internationally. It may also encourage other nations to follow suit, progressing negotiations and peace talks between Israel and Palestine.

Speaking on whether Belgium would recognize Palestine, De Croo said the priority was freeing hostages held by Hamas—then he said, "they can sit around the table and discuss the subject."

While Sánchez was busy in Israel, The Península publishing house announced on Monday, the 27th, that they will publish his second book, Solid Ground or Tierra Firme, after they published his first book in twenty nineteen, titled Manual of Endurance or Manual de Resistencia.

Tierra Firme goes on sale Monday, the 4th of December, and on the blurb it says, "appeals again to citizens...outside of media noise."

Speaking of politics, on Tuesday the 28th, Jakob Hanke Vela, the reporter for Politico’s Brussel Playbook newsletter overheard Catalan pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont discussing Spanish politics with Manfred Weber. Weber is a European People's Party member, and both were at the annual Politico 28 Gala Dinner celebrating Politico's annual list of influential people across the twenty-eight member states.

During the discussion, Puigdemont defended his deal with Sánchez and suggested a possible Catalan independence consultative referendum– a non-binding vote designed to gather public opinion on a specific issue without immediate legal consequences.

For his part, Weber told Puidgement that pushing for independence would further anger the nationalistic Vox party. However, Puidgement surprised everyone when he told Politico's playbook that if "There's not sufficient progress" with the PSOE over Catalan independence, he could foresee an alliance with the center-right People's Party– toppling Pedro Sánchez's government with a motion of no-confidence. Puigemont also said that “for that, the PP must make a step toward us … they cannot keep treating me like a terrorist,” adding that his only crime was putting up ballot boxes.

Continuing with Sanchez and Puidgement, news outlets announced that negotiation talks with the PSOE and Junts per Catalunya will start on Saturday, the 2nd, on neutral ground in Geneva.

Both parties say these talks aim to "seek a political and negotiated solution to the Catalan conflict." Puidgement probably wants to see if previous promises will come to fruition. Sanchez promised many things to Junts in return for parliamentary backing, enabling him to get re-elected.

There will be an international mediator supervising negotiations, though neither party wants to disclose publicly who this will be.

This next story is for word lovers. The Dictionary of the Spanish Language, or DLE, has some new words to add for its yearly update. So, what made the list? Well, machirulo, a derogatory term meaning macho man, regañár, an infinitive verb roughly translated as to scold or reprimand, and for bread lovers, masa madre, sourdough in Castilian Spanish, or if you're in a 365 shop, probably a marketing gimmick!

Other words they've included in the dictionary are environmentally related. Descarbonizar is the process of reducing CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, and there is pobreza energética when many people in developing countries don't have access to basic modern energy services like heating.

Another word that made it into the DLE was VAR, Video Assistant Referee, leading us to our next story….The VAR caused outrage over penalties on Sunday, the 26th.

There's an ongoing controversy in Spanish football refereeing, mostly spurred by an investigation into F.C. Barsa allegedly paying referees for favorable decisions. The latest issue involves a questionable 'penalty' decision in a second-division league game between Racing de Ferrol, from A Coruña, and C.D. Leganés, from Madrid.

A VAR-reviewed penalty decision contradicted Luis Medina Cantalejo, the head of Spanish Referees' defense of the national refereeing team. Last week, he proudly stated that they were strictly avoiding awarding penalties. However, during Sunday's game, the referee penalized with a red card one of the players from Racing de Ferrol for minimal contact, awarding C.D. Leganés with a penalty that leveled the score and angered fans.

From refereeing to archeology, one student's quest for knowledge unexpectedly uncovered evidence related to jihadist looting in cities alongside the Mediterranean Coastline in Libya.

Morgan Belzic, an archaeologist and professor, stumbled upon this illicit trade during his research for a doctoral thesis in twenty sixteen. His findings unveiled illegal artifact trafficking. After reporting it, he received a call from the FBI, sparking a global investigation into the financing of terrorism through art looting - the first of its kind.

After months of investigation, on Friday the 24th, Belzic handed over twelve looted Libyan artworks to the Libyan ambassador in Madrid.

The stolen artworks, dubbed "blood antiquities," were found online, and a Catalan gallery owner was arrested. Charges against him include global network orchestration, terrorist financing, and document falsification. The artifacts are linked to funding the Islamic State, marking the first global police operation against terrorism financing through art theft.

In other news, The Clueless, an influencer agency in Barcelona, has decided to ditch human models with its own AI version called Aitana.

Aitana Lopez, a twenty-five-year-old AI model from Barcelona, was the agency's first design after growing increasingly frustrated with the unpredictable costs and egos of human models and influencers.

Despite only revealing her lack of humanity after getting a firm fan base, Aitana has gathered over ten thousand followers on Instagram. The Clueless says she racks in a monthly profitable income of around 3,000 euros through ads.

Now, they're introducing another AI model, Maia Lima from Argentina, into their lineup. Her bio paints a picture of a 'bisexual,' 'innocent,' and 'solitary' woman, adding a new dimension to the world of digital influencers. It's like a twist straight out of Charlie Brooker's "Black Mirror" series.

What do you think? Link to the Clueless Agency in the show notes.

And lastly, food innovation is big business. However, British supermarket Marks and Spencers M and S has sparked outrage from the top on Twitter with its recent Spanish-inspired product.

There is an extensive catalog of British culinary transgressions against Spanish food, namely putting Chorizo in Paella and labeling it traditional. However, M and S may have topped the list with its latest abomination, Spanish Chorizo Paella Croquetas.

UK Ambassador Hugh Elliott added a touch of humor to the Twitter discussion, endorsing croquetas, paella, and chorizo. However, he raised an eyebrow at the combination, playfully tweeting, "M and S, what have you done?"

Why all the criticism? Paella, a Valencian tradition, is revered in Spain, even marked with World Paella Day in September. Messing with it is a definite faux pas. Back to the drawing board, M and S!

Aaaand that’s it for this week. Remember you can buy one of our really cool and environmentally friendly T-shirts for Christmas prfesents! They are made of 100% unbleached organic cotton, grown and ginned in Texas, spun and knit in the Carolinas, and sewn and printed in Missouri. To buy one, follow the link in our show notes.

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¡Hasta la próxima!