Key points
- Tensions rise over Gaza conflict
- Spain criticised Israel’s Gaza actions
- No Israeli ambassador in Spain currently
MADRID: Spain summoned Israel’s top diplomat on Tuesday for the second time in five days over remarks by Israel’s foreign minister that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was antisemitic and a “liar.”
Israel’s charge d’affaires, Dana Erlich, was called in over “the unacceptable words and positions of the Israeli foreign minister,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, according to AFP.
Israel has not had an ambassador in Spain since the Sanchez government recognized the state of Palestine in 2024.
Spain’s leftist government has been one of Europe’s most outspoken critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his military campaign in Gaza, launched in response to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Ending the genocide in Gaza
Madrid recalled its ambassador to Israel last week after announcing new measures aimed at “ending the genocide in Gaza,” further straining relations.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar recently described Sanchez as “antisemitic” and a “liar” after the Spanish leader expressed admiration for pro-Palestinian protesters who disrupted Spain’s Vuelta cycling race.
Last Friday, Erlich was summoned after Netanyahu accused Sanchez of inciting genocide against Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the opening of a session in his corruption trial that Israel “has begun a significant operation in Gaza City,” reports DW News.
Netanyahu’s remark was part of a request to be excused from the testimony.
The Israeli prime minister has been charged with fraud, embezzlement, and bribery in three separate cases. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and has dismissed the long-running trial as a “witch hunt.”
