The extreme right wing past of Sánchez Molina, possible new Israeli honorary consul in Barcelona

The appointment of the Israeli honorary consul in Barcelona nine months ago has yet to be approved. At the present time, the lawyer José Antonio Sánchez Molina is the name put forward, according to the Israeli embassy in Madrid. However, they add, the process is still under way and he is not yet officially the new consul. ‘It is not that it has been suspended, but just that a few steps remain. That is all’, says the Israeli embassy. The appointment of the honorary consul is of interest in understanding what role Israel will play in the political conflict between Spain and Catalonia. In fact, not only is the name of the new consul missing, but also the honorary consulate of Israel in Barcelona itself has still to be reopened. Israel has had offices there, which were opened in 1994, with David Melul as the honorary consul, but they finally closed. Therefore the appointment of the new consul would mean that Israel would once again have a headquarters in Barcelona. Not everyone sees this in a good light, and the name of the candidate is under close scrutiny.

If in the end Sánchez Molina is appointed, he would be the honorary consul. This figure is of a lower rank than that of consul, but would still represent Israel and the post would have to be approved by both states. An honorary consul receives no salary and his or her functions on behalf of the state are not so important.

The possible new consul, Sánchez Molina, is a Catalan lawyer, born in Blanes. He earned his law degree from Barcelona University (1985) and has a Master’s degree in business administration from Esade (1987). He now runs this office based in Blanes and Barcelona, which specialises in company law. You can read his curriculum there. He is a converted Jew, and as far as VilaWeb has been able to discover, he took part in an extreme right-wing aggression against socialist militants in 1979. VilaWeb checked the information with the victim of the aggression, with one of the aggressors and with the lawyer who took the case to the courts. They all confirm Sánchez Molina’s participation but he refused to answer any of the five calls that VilaWeb made to ask for his version.

The events date back to the first municipal elections after the death of Franco, in 1979. Joan Sureda, then a PSC militant and now a retired lawyer, speaks: ‘A group of ours from the PSC went out to put up electoral posters and Pere Olivella’s group was attacked by another group. Pere Olivella was injured. They were carrying clubs and sticks and they hit him. This lad, José Antonio Sánchez Molina, was one of the aggressors. Afterwards they explained that the UCD had paid money to all of these extreme right wing youngsters in Blanes, I don’t know whether they were militants of Fuerza Nueva or not, to put up UCD electoral posters, but I don’t know why they hit us. That was something else, but it didn’t happen here.’

Pere Olivella, the victim: ‘José Antonio Sánchez Molina was in the group and they were from Fuerza Nueva. They were carrying clubs and hit me on the head. How do I remember? Because now Sánchez Molina is better known than Monyos! He has an office here in Blanes.’

And finally one of the aggressors, Pere Velasco, now a local policeman in Blanes, speaks. Pere Velasco recognises that Sánchez Molina was one of them and that ‘it was an episode of our youth. Two of us were militants of Fuerza Nueva, and two were not. I won’t give you the names, I don’t feel very proud of it. And it is true that UCD had given us this money to hang up posters. I remember we were young and not very responsible. Many years have passed, for me it’s now all water under the bridge and I have nothing to do with it.’

The newspaper Los Sitios reported the events in this news item.  Fuerza Nueva issued a statement in which it said it had nothing to do with the things that some members might individually have done. The case reached the courts and the PSC contracted the services of Joan Sureda, a party lawyer.

Joan Sureda, PSC lawyer at the time of the events, now speaks: ‘We went to court number 1 of Santa Coloma de Farners, because there were no courts in Blanes at that time. Sánchez Molina’s father was very upset. He was an usher at the Marian cinema in the town and he asked us please to ask for a minimum sentence, because the lad was very young and didn’t know what he was doing. And the sentence was a minimum one, because what had happened was not really very important. I was a militant, local secretary and party lawyer. Sánchez Molina studied law and I do know him. He has quite an important office in Blanes. He has not stood out in politics since then.’

The Jewish community in Barcelona
The Jewish community in Barcelona are watching the case with interest. One of the best informed members, who prefers to remain anonymous, gives us some context: ‘Sánchez Molina is a self-made businessman and lawyer and has a lot of money. A lot. He has made large contributions to the Jewish community in the city and when he goes into the synagogue, people get up as a sign of respect. The rabbi comes out to greet him. Politically, he is not a friend of the Catalan nationalists, rather the contrary. He comes at the hand of the Sephardi Jews, many of whom come from Morocco or Ceuta. Many came to Barcelona in 1954 when Morocco got rid of them. Franco helped them, because they were Sephardi, and in the Francoist imagination this made them Spanish. The fact that in Barcelona this part of the community is so strong and so close to the PP for me, as a Jew and an independentist, is a disaster and does not help to make an open community in the city.’

The Jewish community in Barcelona also has members in favour of the Catalan independentist process. Since the times of Mas, the government has taken great care of its relationship with the Hebrew country, and it is this part of the Jewish community that views Sánchez Molina’s appointment as a disaster. Another member speaks, who wishes to remain anonymous: ‘I have heard Sánchez Molina boasting about his extreme right-wing past, and that is intolerable. Intolerable. I didn’t like it at all. But I will tell you something: Sánchez Molina will not be Consol. If his name has come out in the press, it is basically to put him down. Why do you think the whole subject is still up in the air? Because they are not sure. The scandal of Sánchez Molina’s past, when it is known, will be the perfect excuse not to open the consulate. Israel prefers to maintain a certain neutrality, we will see how it ends up.’