The U.S. Embassy in Madrid on Monday said it was “closely following” an incident in which at least one Jewish-American woman was questioned about Zionism at a spa in Barcelona before being kicked out of the establishment.
“We condemn this act of discrimination against U.S. citizens. We call for a thorough review of what happened and a clear response from local authorities,” it posted on X.
The spa, Sauna Thermas, said on Sunday that it “completely dissociates itself” from the actions and comments of organizers of a May 29 private event, during which staff were filmed kicking out two women.
Seguimos de cerca un incidente antisemita ocurrido este fin de semana en una sauna de Barcelona. Desde la Embajada de EE.UU condenamos este acto de discriminación contra ciudadanos estadounidenses. Pedimos una revisión exhaustiva de lo ocurrido y una respuesta clara por parte de…
— U.S. Embassy Madrid 🇺🇸🇪🇸 (@USembassyMadrid) June 1, 2026
The statement came after a Spanish-Jewish advocacy group said it had initiated legal action over what it called antisemitic discrimination. The spa also said it had decided that the group “Bolleras al Vapor,” which organized the event, would no longer be permitted to hold events at its facilities.
Staff asked one woman whether she was “a Zionist person” after noticing her Star of David necklace.
“We don’t condone genocide,” another person is heard telling the Jewish woman, who later told Israel’s Channel 12 that she and her partner had come to the spa to attend a LGBT event. Several women pushed the couple out.
The event triggered condemnations by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) and the Action and Communication on the Middle East (ACOM) pro-Israel group, which announced that its legal team had initiated criminal, administrative and civil proceedings against Sauna Thermas and other parties it holds responsible for the incident.
On Monday, Pride For Israel, a gay advocacy platform of Stand With Us, a pro-Israel U.S.-based group, applauded Sauna Thermas “for quickly recognizing the blatant antisemitism and taking action to condemn the incident.”
Organizers of the event at the spa, “attempted to force the women to denounce their own identity before saying they were not welcome and needed to leave. A mob of self-righteous, supposedly progressive women stood by, and many joined in with shouts of ‘Free Palestine’ as these two women were forcibly removed from the premises. The incident is a throwback to bigotry we have not seen for decades,” Pride for Israel wrote in a statement.
Relations between Madrid and Washington have soured under the government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a socialist who has said he did not agree to let the United States use its navy and aerial bases in Spain for the joint U.S.-Israel operation in Iran.
Spain is one of four European Union member countries that have intervened in South Africa’s 2023 lawsuit for alleged genocide against Israel, widely understood as an endorsement of the suit. Sánchez last year called Israel a “genocidal state.” Israel has accused the Spanish government of fomenting antisemitic hatred with its anti-Israel policies.
The Observatorio de Antisemitismo en España, a watchdog on antisemitism established by FCJE, recorded 207 antisemitic incidents in Spain in 2025, compared to 193 in 2024, 60 in 2023, and 34 in 2022.
