Israel expressed its discomfort towards the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, both for their critical words about the war in the Gaza Strip and for the timing and place chosen to pronounce them. Specifically, in Rafah, shortly before this Egyptian border crossing with the Gaza Strip opened its doors to 13 Israeli children and women kidnapped and released by the Islamist group Hamas in the first stage of the truce agreement that has entered into effective this Friday.
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, announced early in the afternoon that he will summon the ambassadors of the two countries for a “reprimand” conversation: Hours later, in reciprocity, the Spanish minister, José Manuel Albares, summoned his part to the Israeli ambassador in Madrid to give “explanations” for the “unacceptable and false” accusations of the Israeli Government against the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen had assured: “We condemn the false statements of the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium that they support terrorism.”
“Yesterday, we had very fruitful meetings in Jerusalem with President Herzog and Prime Minister Netanyahu. I conveyed Spain’s firm condemnation of the terrible terrorist attacks of October 7. I welcomed the agreement that allows the release of some hostages and the establishment of a humanitarian pause emphasizing that the rest of the hostages must also be released,” Sánchez said before adding the part that provoked Israeli anger: “I reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself but within the parameters and limitations imposed by International Humanitarian Law. And this is not the case. The indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, including thousands of boys and girls, is completely unacceptable.” For his part, De Croo stated that “there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “strongly” condemned the words of European leaders for “not holding Hamas fully accountable for its crimes against humanity, for massacring our citizens and using Palestinians as human shields.”
Albares responded to the Israeli Foreign Ministry that its accusations against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, are “totally false, out of place and unacceptable.” The head of Spanish diplomacy assured that “they are especially serious because it concerns the president of the Government who represents the presidency of the European Union in office and the prime minister who represents the country that will occupy the presidency as of January 1.” . Furthermore, he recalled that “since October 7, the President of the Government, myself and the entire government of Spain did not hesitate to condemn the terrorist attack by Hamas, to make it very clear that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people and is only an organization.” terrorist”. This, the minister insisted, “is not incompatible with the message that we have been repeating since day one: that this right to defend oneself must be done within scrupulous respect for international humanitarian law, that our voice will always be raised to protect so many Palestinian civilians.” .
This afternoon, after the meeting with the president of Egypt and the president of the Arab League – with whom the head of the Spanish Executive has discussed the holding of a Peace Conference in the future -, Pedro Sánchez and Alexander de Croo traveled to Rafah Pass.
Precisely when all of Israel was attentive to every movement at the border crossing, waiting for the return of 13 of their own after 49 days in captivity of the jihadist group, Israelis saw Sánchez and De Croo giving their speeches on television networks. As soon as a commentator on the most popular Israeli channel – Channel 12 – reported Sánchez’s condemnation of the Israeli military offensive, it was a matter of minutes before the Government’s reaction arrived.
“Israel is acting in accordance with international law and fighting a murderous terrorist organization worse than IS, which commits war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Cohen reacted. “Israel does everything possible to avoid the death of civilians while Hamas does everything possible to murder Israeli civilians, protecting itself among its inhabitants,” they added from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which, days before, had already criticized several new ministers of Sánchez’s Government, accusing them of of “not condemning the terrorist attacks by Hamas” on October 7.
“Violence only brings violence. We need to replace violence with peace and hope,” he explained at the foot of Rafah Sánchez. The president reiterated his commitment to the creation of two states, the Israeli and the Palestinian, a message that he has taken to every corner of the Middle East that he has visited.
But the president has gone one step further than he had done until now, opening the door for Spain to unilaterally recognize the Palestinian state. “The time has come for the international community, especially the European Union, to make a decision on the recognition of the Palestinian state. It would be worthwhile for many members of the EU to do it together, but if that does not happen, Spain will of course take its own steps. decisions.”
