The resolution, which was floored in March by leftist parties, calls on the semi-autonomous government of Catalonia and the central Spanish government to hold Israel accountable as per the recommendations by rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
The two leading human rights organisations joined in February 2022 and April 2021, respectively, a number of Palestinian and Israeli rights groups in labelling Israel as an apartheid state.
Apartheid is a legal term defined by international law that refers to systematic oppression by one racial group over another.
In its report, Amnesty called on the United Nations Security Council to “impose targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes, against Israeli officials most implicated in the crime of apartheid, and a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel”.
Israel vehemently rejects the charge calling Amnesty’s 280-page-report “false, biased and antisemitic”.
Despite the increasing number of rights groups labelling Israeli policies as amounting to apartheid, the United States and Israel’s other European allies have refrained from making any such declarations.