Israel had summoned the Spanish ambassador for the fourth time, accusing Sánchez of supporting terrorism with her words
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has announced that he has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, to give “explanations” for the “unacceptable and false” accusations of the Israeli Government. against the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, and the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo, for statements that they consider to be “support for terrorism” by Hamas.
The Government has thus responded to the summons of the Spanish ambassador to Israel, Ana Salomón, by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs supposedly due to the statements that Sánchez has made with De Croo from the Rafá border crossing, the last stop of the visit to Israel, Palestine and Egypt.
Government sources have indicated that this is the fourth time that Benjamin Netanyahu’s Executive has summoned the Spanish ambassador for different reasons since the October 7 attack by Hamas.
In statements to TVE’s ‘Telediario’, reported by Europa Press, Albares has maintained that the accusations “are especially serious because they also involve the President of the Government, who holds the Presidency of the European Union, and the Prime Minister, who represents the country that will have it starting January 1, which is Belgium”.
In this sense, Albares has admitted that he is not aware that Israel is concerned about Spain opening the door to unilaterally recognizing Palestine, after what Sánchez said in this regard from Rafá, so it will be the ambassador who will give the ” explanations” for the Israeli Government’s statement with words that “are completely false, inappropriate and completely out of the ordinary,” he insisted.
“The recognition of the State of Palestine is an electoral promise of the PSOE. It is part of the program of the progressive coalition Government and there are 140 countries in the world that recognize it,” explained the minister, while recalling that Spain condemned from the first moment the attack against Israel “by a terrorist organization such as Hamas.”
Albares also recalled that the Spanish Government has requested “the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.” “We have recognized Israel’s right to defend itself, but also, with the same force, we have raised our voices to make it clear that this defense has to be done within Humanitarian Law and to protect Palestinian civilian victims,” ??he said.
“We are talking about thousands and thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths, including girls and boys, and our humanitarian aid has to be for them,” he added, in terms very similar to those used by Sánchez himself in his meetings with the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and with Netanyahu.
Finally, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has pointed out that Spain “is and will always be in the field of peace”, demanding an international peace conference “that gives birth to a realistic and viable Palestinian State”, which coexists peacefully with Israel.
“There is nothing new, nor extravagant, nor strange in all these proposals,” Albares insisted, while ensuring that he is “completely convinced” that these ideas “represent the unanimous feeling of all Spaniards.”
“SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has summoned the ambassadors of Spain and Belgium this Friday in retaliation for the “false” statements made in recent hours by the President of the Spanish Government and the Belgian Prime Minister, since they consider that it represents “support to terrorism” by Hamas.
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has also “roundly” condemned the statements of Sánchez and De Croo, since he believes that the two leaders did not clearly point out Hamas for the crimes committed, including the attacks against Israeli citizens and the use of Palestinian civilians as “human shields”, his office has reported.
This Friday is the most serious episode of diplomatic tensions between Israel and Spain since the Hamas attacks on October 7, although the Israeli Embassy in Madrid also expressed its discomfort at the positions of “certain elements” of the previous Government, in allusion to former minister Ione Belarra.
