Jewish communities in Spain are outraged after a video published over the weekend showed a Jewish American woman documenting how staff at a sauna in Barcelona prevented her from entering because she was wearing a Star of David necklace.
A complaint was filed with Catalonia police, and Barcelona’s Jewish community demanded an investigation by the specialized discrimination and hate crime units of the Barcelona municipality and the Catalan government.
Two women were banned from entering a sauna in Barcelona because one was wearing a star of David
(Video: According to Section 27A of the Copyright Law)
The Jewish community of Barcelona, which already condemned the incident Saturday, reinforced its message Sunday in a public statement in Catalan, stressing its vision of a city where no one is discriminated against because of their identity.
“We defend a Barcelona where no one is discriminated against because of who they are. A Barcelona where everyone can live their identity freely and proudly,” the community said, ending its statement with a call for Jews to wear the Star of David without fear.
The strongest institutional response came Sunday from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, the body representing Spanish Jews before the authorities. In a statement issued from Madrid, the federation expressed “total rejection and deep shock” over what it called a “shameful incident.” It said the two women were expelled and denied entry “for the sole reason that they openly wore the Star of David.”
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The women were denied entry to a spa in Barcelona because one was wearing a star of David
(Photo: Shutterstock)
The federation was especially firm in defining the incident as antisemitism. “Expelling people identified as Jews from a public or private space is a blatant antisemitic act that violates fundamental rights,” it said in a statement. It also rejected any attempt to make Jews hide their identity to avoid confrontation. “No Jewish citizen in Spain should feel the need to hide his or her identity, faith or symbols out of fear of harassment, censorship or exclusion,” the statement said.
Spanish website enfoquejudio reported that, as of now, the identities of the women who prevented the Jewish woman from entering the sauna are not officially known, though details of someone who may be one of those involved have circulated on social media. The video was first published by Hen Mazzig, who campaigns against antisemitism on social media and exposes such incidents.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem also responded to the incident, saying that singling people out for wearing Jewish symbols and demanding that they renounce Zionism in order to be accepted constitutes a clear case of antisemitism. The ministry also said Jewish identity and Zionism cannot be separated, and called for a firm response from the authorities.
The enfoquejudio wrote that while the investigation continues, the incident has already moved beyond the local arena and become a new focal point of concern over antisemitism in Spain. The video’s circulation, official responses and mobilization by Jewish organizations have placed the affair at the center of public debate, amid growing outrage that spread over the weekend on social media and among communities in Israel and around the world.
First published: 21:33, 05.31.26