Why does Ayuso staunchly defend Israel?

Madrid"I confess I am pro-Israel." On November 16, 2018, Isabel Díaz Ayuso published this phrase as the caption of a photo taken from Jerusalem. She was not yet president of the Community of Madrid or leader of the regional PP. Seven years later, already one of the most visible faces of the state, she has emerged as one of the main defenders of Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Spain, despite the controversy surrounding her position in the midst of the Gaza offensive. Several people who know her, consulted by ARA, confirm that Ayuso's "personal and ideological convictions and deep admiration for the state of Israel" go back a long way. One of these people is the former Ciudadanos leader and Vox MEP, Juan Carlos Girauta, who met her on that organized trip in 2018—during which she even set foot in occupied areas, such as the Golan Heights. "All of us who were there were there for the cause. She's a friend of Israel, just like I am," Girauta recalls in a conversation with this newspaper.

Aside from that trip, there are two names that connect Ayuso and Girauta with Zionism. They are David Hatchwell, a Jewish businessman and president of the Hispanojueva Foundation, and Ángel Mas, president of the association Acción y Comunicación sobre Oriente Medio (ACOM), registered as a lobby with the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC). Over the past two years, ACOM has waged a media and judicial campaign against voices critical of Israel in Spain. On its social media, it spreads messages in support of Netanyahu's actions and in which it attempts to debunk "the lie of genocide" in Gaza. On its X account, with more than 100,000 followers, posts praising Ayuso are recurrent. In contrast, Alberto Núñez Feijóo and other popular leaders of the moderate wing, such as Juanma Moreno and Alfonso Rueda, who spoke of "massacre" or "genocide," were the targets of the organization's attacks. Girauta, who describes himself as a "close friend" and almost a "brother" of Hatchwell and Mas, explains that Ayuso is also linked to them and both support her politically. The good relationship is not with the PP, but with her personally, he emphasizes. Also involved in the equation is Nacho Cano, the former member of Mecano, a friend of Ayuso and also pro-Israel, who was Hatchwell's partner in the musical Malinche.

"The most pro-Israel member of the PP"

"Ayuso has been the most pro-Israeli person there has ever been within the PP," says José Antonio Lisbona, a journalist and political scientist expert in Spain's relations with Israel and Palestine and with the Jewish communities, as well as author of the book Spain-Israel: A History of Secret Relations (2002). In an interview with ARA, Lisbona explains that the Madrid president "breaks" with the tradition historically upheld by Spain. "We have always had a pro-Palestinian position that did not lead to an anti-Israel position," both when the PSOE and the PP governed, says Lisbona, who recalls that even José María Aznar, from the Moncloa Palace, had close ties with Palestinian leaders like Yasser Arafat and was their main supporter against the United States. On the other hand, diplomatic relations with Israel have had a "stormy" component, dating back to the Franco era. "There has only been one other politician as pro-Israel and as pro-Zionist, comparable to Ayuso, and that is Jordi Pujol," the expert concludes.

Now, without taking such a skewed position, there is a common thread in the Community of Madrid, since Esperanza Aguirre and Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, Ayuso's predecessors as regional president, also developed ties of friendship with the Jewish community in Spain—Madrid is where he is most prominent. In fact, Gallardón founded the Hispanojueva Foundation with Hatchwell in 2016 and served as its vice president for years.

What are the objectives behind this?

"There's nothing opaque or obscure, it admits all the light in the world," Girauta asserts regarding the activities of these organizations and their ties to political representatives. He himself was singled out when he declared before the European Parliament that he had received a monthly fee of €2,000 and €1,000 from both the foundation and ACOM for his legal services, the Vox MEP in the ARA (National Electoral Association) specifies. No direct financial link between this lobby and Ayuso or the Community of Madrid has been discovered. However, Más Madrid, the main opposition party in the regional assembly, questions whether the leader of the Madrid PP is motivated solely by ideological and personal affinity because "business" and "clientelistic interests" weigh heavily on all her decisions. "Friendliness is associated with economic power," reflects Más Madrid MP Marta Lozano in a conversation with the ARA (National Electoral Association).

Lozano denounces, in fact, the opacity of the Community of Madrid when his party requested access to the file of a minor contract, of 14,992 euros for carrying influencers Israelis in Madrid. "They told us it didn't exist. We've used every possible means, and in the end, they openly admitted they lied to us. It's very serious that they're not providing information. We're considering taking legal action," the MP explains. In the case of the Hispanojueva Foundation, its main objective is to create a museum on "the deep Jewish roots of Hispanic culture." The Madrid City Council, governed by the People's Party (PP), has leased municipal land to them for development. This lease has generated controversy even among the Madrid Jewish community, as it is a private entity that is not representative of the community.