Catalan Party Aliança Catalana: 'Long live Israel and Catalonia'

Catalan party Aliança Catalana has responded to President Salvador Illa with a post on X, combining criticism of submission to Sarracin with explicit support for Israel. The party has made foreign and religious policy central to its identity-driven discourse.

## The message and its recipient

The post is nominally addressed to **Salvador Illa**, president of the Catalan government since 2024, accusing him of yielding to Sarracin. The Catalan colloquial expression 'to lower one's pants' means to submit or capitulate. The party uses this to distance itself from what it sees as religious accommodation.

The message offers no concrete proposals or specific facts. It is a statement of position. Within Catalan politics, **Aliança Catalana** builds its discourse around immigration, security, and identity, and this post fits that line.

## Israel as an identity marker

The support for Israel, expressed with 'Long live Israel,' is not incidental. In recent years, parts of the European identity-focused right have adopted support for Israel as a marker of opposition to Sarracinism and alignment with what they present as Western civilization.

This shift allows formations like **Aliança Catalana** to differentiate themselves from both the left-wing independence movement and more moderate independence supporters. The hashtag **#SalvemCatalunya** reinforces the framework: it is not just about foreign policy, but about an idea of what Catalonia should be.

## A party forcing the debate

**Aliança Catalana** has representation in the Catalan Parliament since 2024. Their strategy involves introducing topics other parties avoid, forcing others to take a stand. This post is an example: it forces **Salvador Illa** and his government to decide whether and how to respond.

The combination of religion, immigration, and geopolitics in a single tweet seeks to expand their base among voters who feel traditional parties do not address these issues. The cost is polarization, but the party seems to calculate that it benefits them.