Parliament holds minute's silence to 'condemn genocide in Gaza' with absence of far-right

The Catalan parliament held a minute's silence on Tuesday afternoon to "condemn the genocide in Gaza" during the first session after the summer break. Aside from the far-right parties, Vox and Alicança Catalana, all the other parties took part in the solemn event.

"A minute of silence in solidarity with the Palestinian population, as a show of disapproval and condemnation of the genocide and the attacks against civilians in Gaza, as well as any action that violates the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law," parliament speaker Josep Rull read in front of MPs.

The initiative was promoted by the largest party, the Socialists, as well as left-wing Comuns, left-wing, pro-independence Esquerra Republicana, and far-left CUP. During the parliamentary bureau meeting, it was also backed by the pro-independence, right-wing party, Junts.

Despite giving their support, Junts regretted that the other political parties did not condemn the events started by the "terrorist organization Hamas" on October 7, 2024, nor include the request to free all hostages.

Junts' spokesperson Mònica Sales said that despite the lack of support on the Hamas part, the group was backing the minute of silence "as the group is in favor of life, human rights, peace, and to put an end to these barbaric events, and to end genocides."

Spanish far-right party Vox said that the event was just "a smokescreen" to hide the "real problems" that Catalans are facing because of the Socialists and the pro-independence parties. 

Catalan far-right party Aliança Catalana rejected the statement, with leader Sílvia Orriols saying that political parties "bought Hamas' agenda." "There is a group of terrorists using civilians as human shields, and we totally deplore that many left-wing pro-Islamism parties are making these statements," she added.

The conservative People's Party leader, Alejandro Fernández, said that the party does not share the content of the statement but that they would take part in the minute as a show of "respect to all victims" in Gaza, and said that it is unfair that the text does not represent all victims.

The Socialists already said that the parliament has condemned, several times, Hamas' attacks from October 7, 2023, and that the "unprecedented attack on civilians" led by Israel has been qualified as genocide by many international organizations.

Far-left CUP expressed its discontent that "the Zionist far-right" abandoned the chamber. At the same time, left-wing Esquerra Republicana said that some groups used the minute of silence to express their position publicly. Left-wing Comuns said that it was not a time to focus on "political confrontation."