Jewish groups in Spain have called for a judicial investigation over thousands of anti-Semitic messages posted on Twitter after Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team beat Real Madrid in the EuroLeague final last Sunday.
An estimated 18,000 offensive tweets have been posted since the final, many of them using the #putosjudios (fuckingJews) hashtag. The tweets include such statements as "Fucking Jews. This didn't happen under Hitler," "Fucking Jews... they should stick you all in an oven. FUCKINGBASTARDS!" and "Fucking Israel and fucking jews. I have always said that and I'll carry on saying it."
According to Spanish daily El Pais, a complaint was filed with the Barcelona state attorney by the Jewish community of Barcelona and other local Jewish organizations.
The president of the Israel in Catalonia Association, Ruben Novoa, said the complaint was filed against five Twitter account users whose full names appeared on the messages. He said most names on the messages were believed to be false.
He said that a recent study by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) indicated Spain was one of the most anti-Semitic countries within the 28-nation European Union.
''As President of the Citizen´s Network against anti-Semitism I am very concerned about the incitation to hatred against the Jews and Israel,'' Ricardo Ruiz de la Serna, a professor of communication at the University of CEU San Pablo in Madrid told EJP.