Madrid, Spain
AP
—
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday ratcheted up his criticism of Israel’s actions within the 23-month Israel-Hamas warfare, to which Israel responded by banning two left-wing Spanish ministers from the nation.
Sánchez made the feedback whereas saying a raft of measures he stated his authorities was taking to strain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authorities to deal with the humanitarian disaster attributable to its navy offensive within the Gaza Strip.
“This is not self-defense, it’s not even an attack – it’s the extermination of a defenseless people. It is a violation of all humanitarian laws, and despite that, the international community is failing to stop this tragedy,” Sánchez stated.
Besides formalizing an arms embargo, which the Spanish authorities says has been de facto in impact since October 2023, Spain will ban ships carrying gas for Israel’s armed forces from passing by way of Spanish ports, and enhance its humanitarian assist towards Gaza in 2026 to succeed in 150 million euros ($176 million), he stated.
The measures would should be authorised in Parliament.
Other steps included a pledge to extend assist for the United Nations company for Palestinian refugees, referred to as UNRWA, and to impose an embargo on items made in Israeli settlements within the occupied Palestinian territories.
Additionally, anybody who instantly participates in what Sánchez termed the “genocide” in Gaza wouldn’t be allowed to enter Spanish territory, he stated.
“We know that all these measures will not be enough to stop the invasion or the war crimes, but we hope that they will serve to add pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to alleviate some of the suffering that the Palestinian population is enduring,” Sánchez stated.
In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar stated Sánchez was making an attempt to divert consideration from the corruption scandals affecting his Socialist Party, and characterised the Spanish authorities’s actions as “antisemitic.”
Saar stated on X that Israel had banned Spain’s labor minister, Yolanda Díaz, and Youth Minister Sira Rego from touring to the nation. Both belong to the federal government’s left-wing coalition associate Sumar. Saar stated the ministers can be prohibited from getting into Israel as a result of they’d made statements calling Israel a “genocidal state” and supported efforts to sanction or boycott Israel.
Spain’s authorities has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s warfare in Gaza, which started after Hamas-led militants killed round 1,200 individuals, principally civilians, on October 7, 2023, and kidnapped 251 hostages. Israel’s offensive has killed greater than 64,000 Palestinians, in line with the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t say what number of had been civilians or combatants.
Last yr, Spain joined Norway and Ireland to formally acknowledge a Palestinian state and was the primary European nation to ask a UN courtroom for permission to hitch South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
On Monday, Saar downplayed the impact the Spanish authorities’s actions would have on Israel.
“If they want to hold or halt defense connections with Israel,” Saar advised reporters, “who do you think will lose from that? We don’t need Spain to protect the land of Israel.”