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Madrid

🚮 Spain and Israel Are Really Fighting Now

Plus: SĂĄnchez and FeijĂło join TikTok, the ex-King takes a Gatsby vacation, and and explosion in Vallecas.

Madrid | Issue #117

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No Vuelta for you!

đŸ‡”đŸ‡ž Eurovision, la Vuelta, and a street fight: Spain vs Israel, round 2

We need a therapist. Just when you thought Spain’s relationship with Israel couldn’t get any worse, it did.

  • Back at it again. We honestly didn’t think we’d be back here a week later (‌), but Spain and Israel somehow managed to outdo themselves. The spats still boil down to Spain criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza and Israel hating it (natch). But wow, there were new ways to turn up the heat.

La Vuelta implodes. Spain’s beloved bike race (our own Tour de Spain!) was already touchy last week, when pro-Palestine demonstrators targeting the Israel-Premier Tech team—owned by a close buddy of Netanyahu—forced organizers to cut short several stages. But Sunday’s grand finale in Madrid spiraled.

  • Turning up the heat. Some 100,000 protestors turned out (don’t ask us how they counted đŸ€”) in and around Madrid, where the triumphant finale was supposed to speed through the center in a whoosh of spandexed joy.

  • Things fall apart. Everything was fine (cue ominous music) until mid-afternoon, when a group of protestors unfurled a massive pro-Palestine sign to block the route 57 km from the finish. Others blocked Madrid’s Castellana boulevard with crowd barriers and threw bottles in running skirmishes with police (two arrested; 22 police hurt).

  • No podium for you! Organizers pulled the plug — no triumphant sprint down Madrid’s main drag, no podium ceremony at Cibeles city hall, no trophy moment for the Israeli team’s wunderkind, set to receive an award as best young rider.

Big fan. Hours before, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had used a PSOE rally in Málaga to salute “the Spanish people who mobilize for just causes like Palestine.”

  • Cue Israeli fury. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was not exactly subtle in his response: "Yesterday, a pro-Palestinian mob sabotaged the Vuelta a España. They did so with the support and encouragement of the Spanish president. It's unbelievable. Mr. SĂĄnchez and his communist ministers encouraged the violence."

  • Cool podium, bro. Even Denmark’s PM Mette Frederiksen scolded SĂĄnchez (a fellow socialist) after her compatriot Jonas Vingegaard had to celebrate victory in a hotel parking lot on a podium of overturned coolers. “My Spanish colleague paid tribute to the bullies,” she snapped. “The parliament of the street has nothing to do with democracy. They are destroying sport and, ultimately, democracy.” 😡

The tit-for-tat doesn’t stop there. On Tuesday, the board of RTVE (Spain’s national broadcaster) voted to boycott Eurovision 2026 if Israel competes — Spain becoming the fifth country to take that line. That came a day after Sánchez mused: Why was Russia expelled from competitions after invading Ukraine, but Israel isn’t after invading Gaza? “Until the barbarism ceases,” he said, “neither Russia nor Israel should participate in any further international competition.”

  • This not only made Eurovision fanatics sad. Israel’s Saar hit back with his usual subtlety: “SĂĄnchez and his Communist government are antisemites and enemies of the truth.” (Okay, comparing Russia’s unprovoked invasion with Israel’s retaliation after Oct. 7 wasn’t SĂĄnchez’s best logical leap. Still, Israel’s response since then
 another story.)

Back in Spain. The center-right PP was absolutely furious at Sánchez. Like, foaming at the mouth. And with both Madrid’s mayor and regional president from the PP, sparks flew.

Madrid regional presi Isabel Díaz Ayuso was also very angry (let’s not forget the city and the region allocated almost €400K to promote the Madrid brand that day).

  • Watch for the big finish. She accused SĂĄnchez of “stoking the flames” and demonizing “the only liberal democracy in the Middle East”. Then came the Ayuso flourish: She compared the scenes in Madrid to “the pre-civil war atmosphere” and to the siege of Sarajevo. (This part may have been overkill.)

Lastly, there was party leader Alberto NĂșñez FeijĂło. He backed Almeida and Ayuso, calling the government’s actions a failure of leadership, but added you can condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza “without being antisemitic” — a gentler line than his Madrid lieutenants.

The SĂĄnchez team relished the outrage. Spokesperson Pilar AlegrĂ­a accused the PP of “equidistance” đŸ˜± on what she called Israel’s genocide and of criminalizing “mostly peaceful” protests. Spaniards, she said, had become “the voice of Europe’s conscience.”

  • And now, more controversy coming? Spanish King Felipe VI (F6), visiting Cairo, denounced the “unbearable humanitarian crisis” in Gaza and “countless innocent victims” of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. We’re waiting for Mr Saar’s response in 3, 2, 1


More news below. 👇👇

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💬 Five things to discuss at dinner parties

1.đŸ€łđŸ» Bessent, SĂĄnchez, and FeijĂło: TikTok’s big week in Madrid

It’s been a big week for TikTok in Spain — both on-screen and behind the scenes.

Prime Minister SĂĄnchez and PP boss NĂșñez FeijĂło finally joined the platform last week, accepting that if they want Gen Z votes (who slowly seem to be migrating towards the far right), they may need to lip-sync for them.

  • SĂĄnchez opened with a serious message about his Gaza sanctions on Israel — a somber debut for a space built on dances and memes. The Moncloa’s own account was lighter: promising Gen Zers a how-to on the presidential palace’s workings and maybe some gossip, and featuring cameos from troll-in-chief Transport Minister Óscar Puente. SĂĄnchez himself offered only a weary shrug. đŸ€·â€â™‚ïž

Feijóo, meanwhile, went cheeky. His first video was a montage of rivals name-dropping him, capped with: “¿Molesto mucho? Pues ahora me vais a tener aquí.”. (“Am I annoying you? Well, now you’ll be seeing me here.”) We’re not sure calling yourself “annoying” in your first post is effective, but what do we know?

  • In a follow-up, he showcased his clashes with SĂĄnchez in Parliament, clearly positioning himself for viral political sparring (because apparently we didn’t have enough of that?).

Sánchez easily won the early days, hitting 45,000 followers by Wednesday night, compared to a mere 5,200 for Feijóo. But their arrival underlines that TikTok is now an official battleground for Spain’s political youth.

And while Spain’s leaders were dancing for clicks, TikTok’s actual future was being hashed out in Madrid.

  • Big powers. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spent two days negotiating with Chinese officials over a “framework deal” to keep TikTok alive in the U.S. — an attempt to dodge a looming ban. The broad terms are set, but the final say belongs to Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, who are expected to speak Friday.

  • So TikTok is no longer just where Spanish politics goes viral. It’s also where geopolitics gets staged.

Oh, and in case you were wondering. Spain’s most followed political party on TikTok isn’t PSOE or PP. It’s Vox.

2. ⚖ Why did the other Manada just get a plea deal in its gang rape case?

Bad guys. Five men from Castelldefels, who called themselves the K-Team Manada Returns and idolized the Pamplona wolfpack (Manada) that shocked Spain with a gang rape during San FermĂ­n in 2016, admitted this week to raping three women in 2021, filming it, and sharing the videos on WhatsApp. And they walked away with a plea deal that slashed their potential cumulative sentences from 196 years to under 33.

  • The crimes were horrific. In spring 2021, in the middle of pandemic lockdowns, the group lured vulnerable women to a flat, got them drunk, and assaulted them once they were unable to resist. One victim was raped vaginally, anally, and orally. Another, while forced to perform oral sex, had a bottle pushed into her vagina. At least one suffered from a neurological condition that made her especially vulnerable. The men recorded the attacks and shared them with friends.

Their text chats left no doubt that they knew what they were doing — and they reveled in it. Their WhatsApp group (later renamed La Manada 2.0) even used a photo of a member of Pamplona’s Manada as its icon. In messages, they bragged about hunting for victims, with one writing: “I’d pass you a number of a girl who’s a slut and good-looking, but I don’t trust her — she’d report me.”

Prosecutors had sought staggering sentences, up to 53 years each. But after two weeks of negotiations, the men cut a deal: plead guilty, apologize, and pay around €100,000 in compensation (€30–38K per victim).

Why would victims agree? According to prosecutors, putting them through testimony risked retraumatization. One woman is still battling PTSD, and a drawn-out trial might have collapsed altogether. The deal, grim as it looks, spared them that ordeal.

  • Their words. "The need to protect the victims, as well as their desire not to be re-victimized by subjecting them to the pressure of this trial, has weighed heavily," prosecutors said in a filing released Tuesday.

Still, the optics are brutal. Men who modeled themselves on Pamplona’s rapists, who filmed their crimes and laughed about them, could soon be back on the street. For many Spaniards, it’s a reminder that even with tougher laws, “justice” in sexual assault cases can feel like another assault.

3. đŸ—Łïž SĂĄnchez and Junts reach deal to confuse your customer service reps in Colombia

What did you say? The PSOE government and its frenemies in Junts per Catalunya have struck a deal that could force large companies across Spain to offer customer service in Catalan, Basque, and Galician whenever a client requests it.

  • Heading to Parliament. The requirement will be slipped into the upcoming Law on Customer Service, which hits parliamentary debate next week. It applies to firms with more than 250 employees or €50 million in revenue — think banks, telcos, airlines, utilities, and streaming platforms.

Speak my language. Under the new rule, companies would have to reply in the same language a customer uses to complain, both verbally and in writing — regardless of where the company is based or where the call comes from.

  • Junts described the agreement as a “paradigm shift” that guarantees linguistic rights beyond the goodwill of companies.

  • Others might describe it another way. More like just another payment on the political mortgage SĂĄnchez took out with Junts to secure his investiture.

The SĂĄnchez government has been struggling to reach deals with Junts, the party led by (still) fugitive Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after organizing the 2017 illegal independence referendum in Catalonia.

  • Warning 🚹. Puigdemont had warned that this autumn could mark a turning point in his party’s relationship with SĂĄnchez — suggesting things could turn sour quickly if he doesn’t get what he wants.

  • He wants? Stuff. Lots of stuff. For SĂĄnchez’s stalled amnesty bill to go into practice so he can return to his beloved Spain Catalonia. For Catalonia to keep most if not all the national income tax collected in its territory. For the EU to recognize Catalan as an official language. For


Business groups are not amused. They argue the measure will increase costs and bureaucracy for companies operating nationwide (while, really, not really helping many people except Catalan translators).

  • The CEOE employers’ confederation warned the law would hike costs and hurt competitiveness, especially in regions where Catalan and the other languages are barely spoken (AndalucĂ­a, looking at you).

  • Madrid’s CEIM went further, calling the measure “unacceptable” and accusing the government of “introducing politics into business decisions.”

Now what? The amendment still has to survive parliamentary wrangling. But if it passes, demand for translators — or verbal AI that actually works — could suddenly spike.

4. 👑 Billy Joel, a Vanderbilt, and the ex-King walk into a yacht club


At least somebody is having a good time, amid all this Gaza horror and the Israel-Spain feud and those guys getting their sentence for a gang-rape cut because they said “sorry.” You know who’s having fun? The ex-King, old Juan Carlos I (aka JCI). He’s having a fantastic time.

But as everyone knows, sailing yachts isn’t just about sailing. The Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club that’s hosting the race is old-money heaven. Think the Great Gatsby turned to 11. Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (yes, of that family) was a member. And today, Billy Joel is a regular (⁉). Will he play “Piano Man” for JCI? Inquiring minds want to know.

  • The King’s Gatsby social calendar rivals the race schedule. First up: welcome cocktails and happy hours on the terrace. Then comes Saturday night’s piĂšce de rĂ©sistance: a Bollywood-themed party at the commodore’s mansion. Dress code: “Festive Indian Attire.” (Did anyone say cultural appropriation? Not at Oyster Bay, darling.)

  • The fun never stops. Sunday keeps the good times rolling with a barbecue at the club’s casual corner, the Salty Dog — $38 plus drinks, so JCI’s prolly good for it.

From Monday through Friday, it’s down to the water. The Bribón crew will try to keep its crown, and JCI will try not to fall overboard. The finale: a gala dinner and trophy ceremony next Friday (Sept. 27).

But no, there’s more! No comeback tour is complete without merch, and this is no different. This fall, JCI drops his 500-page autobiography, ReconciliaciĂłn, ghosted by French writer Laurence Debray and reportedly stuffed with as-yet unseen photos đŸ€Ș.

  • Release schedule. France gets it first (November), Spain later (December). Why France first? đŸ€” An English version is promised. We’re hoping less sailing talk and more dirty details about the whole “embarrassing accident while on a hunting trip in Botswana with a girlfriend named Corinna (aka not the Queen)” thing. 🙄 Well, we can dream.

So while Madrid fumes and Gaza burns, one octogenarian is living his best Gatsby cosplay — minus the gunshot in the swimming pool, hopefully. The guy’s already had one firearm tragedy.

5. đŸ’„ Two dead and 25 injured in Vallecas gas explosion

Madrid was rocked Saturday afternoon by a massive gas explosion in Vallecas that left two dead, 25 injured, and a whole building evacuated.

  • House renovation gone wrong. The blast hit around 3 p.m. at Calle Manuel Maroto 3, in a three-story building where a ground-floor shop had been illegally converted into a flat just six months ago. That unit — along with the building’s entrance and the wall of the next-door bar Mis Tesoros (packed with customers at the time) — was basically obliterated.

  • Witnesses said “the security gate and even the sofas were blown into the street.” A passing car was hit by debris, and the force of the blast actually hurled it across the road. Sheesh.

Rescue dogs searching overnight found the body of a 52-year-old man buried under more than a meter of rubble. A second body was recovered Monday. Both were residents of the makeshift ground-floor home. Four others were pulled out alive.

  • In all, 25 people were treated for injuries, several seriously.

Fire chief Carlos Marín de la Bárcena confirmed gas accumulation caused the blast, though investigators haven’t yet nailed down the type or source of the leak. Neighbors say the destroyed unit had been an off-the-books conversion, part of a building that also housed 11 other families — one of them crammed into a courtyard shack.

  • Housing crisis side effect. The tragedy has sparked fresh alarm over Madrid’s shadow housing market, where “converted” shops and garages quietly become homes. In Vallecas, the result was catastrophic.

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