International
Israel reproaches in a video in X Spain’s policy of recognizing the Palestinian State
Israel again reproached Spain’s policy with the recognition of the Palestinian State, with a video published this Sunday on the account of X of the Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, accompanied by a mention of the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, and then the message “Hamás thanks him for his service.”
In the video, which lasts 18 seconds, it starts with the flag of Spain and some of the images of the attacks of the Palestinian group on October 7 appear, alternating with those of two people who imitate flamenco dancers, all the time with the phrase printed on “Hamás: “Thanks Spain.”
In the last few hours, numerous X accounts are distributing recordings without filters or warnings of the crudest moments of the October 7 massacre.
The circulation of these videos has intensified following the announcement by Spain, Norway and Ireland of their decision to recognize the Palestinian state on May 28.
With his message today, Katz again charges against the Spanish Government after its recent announcement that it will recognize the Palestinian State, after last Friday it banned the Spanish Consulate in Jerusalem to “provide services to the Palestinians” and ordered the connection between the Spanish Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Palestinians to be cut off.
Katz also criticized on Friday the vice president of Spain, Yolanda Díaz, for publishing the day after the announcement of the recognition of the Palestinian State a video on her social networks of support in which she stated “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” a slogan of the Palestinian cause that Israel considers anti-Semitic because they say that it implies the disappearance of its state.
“If this ignorant and hateful person wants to understand what radical Islam is really looking for, let him learn about the 700 years of Islamic rule in Al Andalus, in what is now Spain,” Katz wrote in a message on his X account this past Friday against Díaz.
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, considered “scandalous and execrable” the video published today by his Israeli counterpart in which he reproaches Spain for its imminent recognition of the Palestinian State and uses flamenco in a “huring” way.
“The video seems scandalous and execrable to me. It is scandalous because it is known to the whole world, especially to my Israeli colleague, that the Government of Spain has condemned Hamas terrorism from the first moment and in all its actions,” Albares said at a press conference in Brussels with the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohamad Mustafa.
“I have said it many times and today I reiterate it here again, the people of Israel are a friendly people of the Spanish people, and Israel, of course, has the right to have its State,” said the head of Spanish diplomacy in his appearance before the press at the headquarters of Spain’s permanent representation before the European Union (EU), after meeting with Mustafa.
For Albares, the video is also “execrable for the use it wants, although it does not achieve it, hurtful, of one of the greatest symbols of Spanish culture such as flamenco.”
A symbol of Spanish culture of which he said he was “especially proud because I love it,” he said.
And, he added: “As soon as I have an hour free, I will go to see a flamenco show to vindicate it, because it is what the world needs right now, a universal art, an open music, a music that dialogues and, therefore, a universal language that brings us closer to all the peoples of the world and that inspires us.”
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, assured this Saturday that what is happening in Gaza “is a real genocide” and has pointed out that the recognition of the Palestinian State “does not go against Israel,” whose embassy in Spain has regretted that it has made the story of Hamas its own.
Diplomatic relations between Israel and Spain have been tense since Sánchez’s last visit to the country, last November, in which he reproached the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that his offensive in Gaza was not respecting international humanitarian law.
Spain will formally recognize the Palestinian State on May 28, along with Ireland and Norway, which provoked the anger of Israel, which called for consultations with its ambassadors in those countries and summoned their respective representatives in Tel Aviv for a reprimand.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?
This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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