Spain on Monday recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar slammed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez over a series of measures targeting Israel.
Stepping up his criticism of Israel, Sanchez announced the measures which are aimed at stopping what he called “the genocide in Gaza”.
Israel retaliated by banning two left-wing Spanish ministers from the country.
Spain’s foreign ministry condemned Israel’s response, saying Madrid “would not be intimidated in its defence of peace, international law and human rights”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X that Sanchez’s criticism of the war was an attempt “to divert attention from serious corruption scandals through a continuous anti-Israel and anti-Semitic campaign”.
Saar also announced entry bans on Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz and Youth Minister Sira Rego, both members of the far-left Sumar group that is the junior partner of Sanchez’s coalition government.
Rego is of Palestinian descent on her father’s side and spent part of her early childhood in the occupied West Bank.
Among the measures announced by Sanchez was an arms embargo on Israel and a ban on vessels carrying fuel for the Israeli military from using Spanish ports.
Read moreIn a divided Europe, Spain emerges as a champion of Palestinian statehood
Spain is one of the most outspoken European critics of Israel’s devastating war in Gaza, which was sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and recognised a Palestinian state last year. – France24.
