Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks to the media on the day of his meeting with Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris to discuss recognizing a Palestinian state, in Dublin, Ireland, April 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday urged other countries to stop supplying weapons to Israel, continuing Spain’s harsh rhetoric toward the Jewish state since the start of the Gaza war last October.
“I believe it is urgent that, in light of everything that is happening in the Middle East, the international community stops exporting weapons to the government of Israel,” Sanchez told reporters after meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican in Rome.
“This is an appeal that I will make … to the entire international community,” the socialist leader added, saying it was important “not to contribute in one way or another to the escalation of violence and to the war and its expansion in Gaza, the West Bank or, in this case, to Lebanon.”
Sanchez’s comments came as Israel continued to conduct military operations against Hamas in Gaza to the south and Hezbollah in Lebanon to the north. Both Islamist terrorist groups, which openly seek Israel’s destruction, are backed by Iran.
“Let me at this point criticize and condemn the attacks that the Israeli armed forces are carrying out on the United Nations mission in Lebanon,” Sanchez also said, referring to Israeli forces this week allegedly firing multiple times at United Nations peacekeeper positions in southern Lebanon, a part of the country where Hezbollah wields significant influence.
French President Emmanuel Macron similarly said last week that shipments of arms to Israel used in the conflict in Gaza should be stopped as part of a broader effort to find a political solution. The remarks prompted outrage from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For Sanchez, targeting arms exports to Israel was his government’s latest salvo against the Jewish state. Spain has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel since Oct. 7 of last year, when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza. The terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and abducted over 250 hostages in their rampage, leading Israel to respond with a military campaign aimed at freeing those taken captive and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities, Spain launched a diplomatic campaign to curb Israel’s military response. At the same time, several Spanish ministers in the country’s left-wing coalition government issued pro-Hamas statements and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with one member of the cabinet from the far-left Podemos alliance falsely accusing Israel of “genocide.”
More recently, Spanish officials said they would not allow ships carrying arms for Israel to stop at its ports
In May, Spain officially recognized a Palestinian state, claiming the move was accelerated by the Israel-Hamas war and would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli officials described the decision as a “reward for terrorism.”
Spain, like many other countries around the world, experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents targeting the Jewish community following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
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