Madrid kosher restaurant targeted in suspected antisemitic arson attempt

(A7) Spanish police are investigating an attempted arson attack on a kosher restaurant in central Madrid, Jewish organizations reported on Wednesday, according to JNS.

According to a press release from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, the assailant entered the Rimmon restaurant at 10:39 p.m. on Tuesday and “sprayed the entrance of the establishment with a liquid with a strong gasoline smell, intending to set fire and burn down the premises.”

The federation noted that the quick actions of the restaurant staff, despite the venue being crowded at the time, prevented the attacker from igniting the fire. The suspect fled before police arrived.

Authorities are currently working to locate the perpetrator and determine the motive behind the attack, the press release stated.

The incident comes amid a rise in anti-Israel and antisemitic activity in Spain in the wake of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza.

In one incident on January 1, members of the far-left Canarias Insumisa group burned an Israeli flag outside a sports arena in the Canary Islands, ahead of a basketball game featuring Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Ties between Israel and Madrid have been strained since the start of the Gaza war.

Spain’s Ambassador to Israel was summoned by the Foreign Ministry in November of 2023 after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez claimed that “Israel is violating international law and is carrying out indiscriminate killings in Gaza.”

In April of 2024, Sanchez criticized what he called Israel’s “disproportionate response” in the Gaza war, saying it risks “destabilizing the Middle East, and as a consequence, the entire world”.

Spain and Israel have also been at odds ever since Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state last May.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has long urged countries to recognize “Palestine” as a means of bypassing direct talks with Israel.