In the 1930s, the mechanism of persecution began with a simple, bureaucratic act: the list. Before the shattered glass and the deportations, there was the designation-the public marking of Jewish commerce and life as something alien, malignant, and worthy of destruction. Last week, in the heart of 21st-century Europe, that mechanism was rebooted.
The appearance of the "Barcelonaz" interactive map in Catalonia is not merely an act of digital vandalism; it is the inevitable symptom of a European nation that has, under the leadership of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, institutionally normalized antisemitism. Hosted on the French platform GoGoCarto before being scrubbed due to legal pressure, this digital tool did not merely advocate for policy changes.
It provided a hit list.
The anonymous collective behind the project-styling themselves as "journalists, professors, and students"-geolocated 152 targets across Barcelona. Their criteria for inclusion were as broad as they were chilling. The list included not only Israeli defense firms but local kosher butchers, the Hatikva Jewish elementary school, and multinational giants like IBM and Siemens, all branded with the scarlet letter of "Zionism."
The suffix "NAZ" in the project’s title was a deliberate, grotesque inversion, engaging in the Soviet-style propaganda tactic of equating the Jewish state with the regime that sought its annihilation. By providing precise addresses and soliciting financial contributions to "enrich the marking," the creators engaged in stochastic terrorism-loading the gun and placing it on the table, waiting for a radicalized "lone wolf" to pull the trigger.
However, it would be a mistake to view this map as a fringe anomaly. In Pedro Sánchez’s Spain, this is the mainstream. The "Barcelonaz" map is the bastard child of a government that has spent the last two years systematically demonizing the Jewish State to placate its far-left coalition partners.
Since October 7, 2023, Madrid has emerged as the western capital of anti-Israel animus. Senior ministers like Yolanda Díaz and Sira Rego-now rightly declared persona non grata by Jerusalem-have utilized their platforms to spew blood libels, accusing Israel of "genocide" and "extermination" while the bodies of massacre victims were still warm. When the state’s highest officials traffic in such rhetoric, they issue a tacit permit to every antisemite in the country: the Jews are guilty, and marking them is a moral duty.
The hypocrisy underpinning this hatred was laid bare this week, coincidentally alongside the map scandal. While the Sánchez government preens morally about its arms embargo on Israel, loudly banning defense trade to "stop the genocide," it quietly approved a shameful exception. The government authorized the aviation giant Airbus to continue importing Israeli technology for its Spanish manufacturing plants.
Why the exception? Because banning Israeli tech would hurt Spanish jobs and the Spanish economy. The "sanctions-first" doctrine, it seems, applies only when it scores political points, not when it impacts the Spanish bottom line. Madrid is happy to slander Israel as a genocidal state in the halls of the UN, but it is equally happy to install Israeli avionics in its aircraft if it keeps the assembly lines in Seville humming. This is not principled foreign policy; it is mercantile cynicism of the lowest order.
The rot is particularly deep in Catalonia. For a decade, the region has served as a laboratory for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Dozens of municipalities have previously declared themselves "Apartheid Free Zones" (ELAI), effectively creating areas where Jews must disavow their ancestral homeland to participate in civic life. While organizations like ACOM have successfully fought these measures in the courts, proving them unconstitutional, the culture of exclusion has festered.
Although the prompt legal action by ACOM and the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) forced the removal of the map from its host servers, the victory is merely tactical. The data has been scraped; the PDF lists are undoubtedly circulating on Telegram and WhatsApp groups. The genie is out of the bottle.
Spain has forgotten its history.
A nation that once expelled its Jews during the Inquisition is now, five centuries later, creating the conditions for a modern exodus. Jewish parents in Barcelona are now questioning whether it is safe to walk their children to school. Rabbis are advising congregants to hide their kippahs.
The "Barcelonaz" map should serve as a wake-up call for the West. Spain is no longer a neutral observer or a benign tourist destination. It has become an active incubator of antisemitic radicalism, nurtured by a government that trades in incitement and hides behind hypocrisy. If Europe wonders where the next pogrom will come from, they need only look at the map-Spain has already drawn the targets.
Amine Ayoub, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, is a policy analyst and writer based in Morocco. Follow him on X: @amineayoubx