A traditional carnival ceremony in Andorra has sparked outrage among members of the tiny Jewish community after an effigy depicting the State of Israel was put on public “trial,” shot and set ablaze during festivities attended by local officials.
The incident took place Monday in the Encamp district of the small principality between France and Spain, which holds a seat at the United Nations. Images from the event showed a large blue-and-white effigy bearing a Star of David on its face. The figure was hanged, symbolically tried and sentenced to death before being shot and burned.
The ceremony was part of Andorra’s annual Carnival tradition centered on “Carnestoltes,” a mock king whose effigy is typically put on trial, hanged and burned in a symbolic act marking the end of festivities. However, members of the Jewish community said this was the first time the effigy included Jewish symbols or imagery associated with Israel.
Esther Pujol, one of about 160 Jews living in Andorra, said the community was deeply shaken.
“This is a ritual they perform every year as part of carnival, where they mock many things,” she said. “This time they dressed the effigy in the colors of the Israeli flag, with a Star of David on its face. They put it on trial, sentenced it to death and carried out the sentence by shooting and burning it. It is completely unacceptable.”
Pujol said she contacted the president of Andorra’s parliament, who she said expressed shock and told her the incident was unacceptable. She added that the mayor of Encamp and council members took part in the ceremony.
According to Pujol, protests against Israel were held in Andorra following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, but she described this week’s event as the first time the carnival included what she called explicit antisemitic elements.
“It is very serious,” she said. “We have not reached a stage of violence in Andorra, but this began with an effigy and could worsen. There has never been anything like this here.”
Other members of the community said they were frightened by what they described as a display that symbolically “put the State of Israel at the stake.”
A resident originally from Israel whose family lives in Andorra said the ceremony was “astonishing and disturbing,” noting that while antisemitic incidents have increased in parts of Europe in recent years, Andorra had until now been considered relatively quiet.
Photographs from the event also showed what appeared to be an air rifle aimed at the hanging effigy as onlookers gathered.