Israel's ambassador in Madrid described the "hatred and anti-Semitism" he had experienced during his four years in Spain, in a message post on the embassy website Saturday.
Raphael Shutz said that his four years in Spain had included some difficult moments.
He cited Israel's January 2009 assault on the Palestinian-held Gaza Strip, which provoked an international outcry and the May 2010 commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists in which nine Turks were killed.
In addition, he said, "...the fact of having personally experienced the hate and the anti-Semitism that exists in Spanish society is something that I take away with me."
But he stressed too, that he had also had many positive experiences.
Last month, as Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki visited Madrid, Spain called for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks and a two-state solution to the conflict.
In February, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez made her first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, in a trip marking the 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties.
As part of this event, the Prince of Asturias visited Israel last April, after Israeli President Shimon Peres traveled to Madrid in February.
"Relations between our two countries are just beginning," said Shutz in his message Saturday.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were first established inJanuary 1986 after centuries of hostility following the publication of a royal order expelling the Jews from Spain in 1492.
The edict of expulsion was formally nullified 500 years later at an
official ceremony in March 1992 which was attended by the Spanish king and then Israeli president Haim Herzog.
Alon Bar, who will take over Schutz’s post in August, was already number two at the Madrid embassy in the nineties. He is currently head of Israel's foreign ministry's cultural relations department.