ACOM’s legal actions against anti-Semitic discrimination in the Faculty of Politics of the Complutense University
The Students assembly has declared the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the Complutense University (the biggest attendance-based University in Spain) as a “Space Free of Israeli Apartheid (ELAI)”. It has also joined the BDS campaign (“Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel”).
This type of discriminatory resolutions has already received a forceful judicial response in Spain: at the initiative of ACOM, 85 similar institutional agreements (including in the academic field, as is the case of the Senate of the Autonomous University of Barcelona), have been annulled as the Courts of Justice have found them unconstitutional. The 1161/2022 ruling of the Supreme Court stands out, together with numerous rulings of the High Courts of Justice.
Paradoxically, on the same day that the Complutense approves its agreements against Jews, the Government presents an action plan against anti-Semitism. Given the background of the governing parties, and the public funding provided to their related associations that promote these acts of hatred, it is hard to believe in the sincerity and usefulness of such a plan.
There is, however, an effective mechanism against anti-Semitism: the one foreseen in the legislative reform promoted by the Assembly of Madrid before the Congress of Deputies. The aim is to prevent taxpayers’ money from ending up in the hands of organizations that carry out anti-Semitic activities (according to the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, to which Spain has adhered since 2005). But the processing of this reform is inexplicably stopped.
The University belongs to everyone. ACOM is not guided by empty words or sterile gestures. We have a continuous and firm commitment against anti-Semitic hatred. And, in particular, against those who restrict the freedom of Jews in Spain or harass the only Jewish State in the world. Especially when these anti-Semites use public resources.
