Ione Belarra, leader of far-left Podemos party, the junior partner in Spain's coalition government, has called for Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, to be investigated for war crimes. However, with both cities also having small Jewish communities, there have been signs of that social peace being tested since the conflict between Hamas and Israel erupted. Last Wednesday, a pro-Palestinian protest took place in Melilla, with participants marching though the streets and burning an Israeli flag. Juan José Imbroda, the mayor of Melilla, invoked the long-standing coexistence between religions in the city as he called for calm. However, foreign minister José Manuel Albares also appeared to overrule Ms Belarra by saying that only he and the Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, were qualified to speak about foreign policy issues.

Source: The North Africa Journal October 22, 2023 14:04 UTC