Luis Ayllón
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, justified yesterday before PSOE militants in Madrid the position that he maintains in the Gaza war and that has caused a diplomatic crisis with Israel. Yesterday, a senior official from the Israeli Foreign Ministry received the Spanish ambassador, Ana Salomon, to express the protest of the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu over Sánchez’s words during his visit to Rafah.
In a large PSOE event held in Ifema, before 9,000 supporters, he insisted that his Government “defends peace” inside and outside our borders”, and assured that “condemn the vile attacks by Hamas and at the same time the indiscriminate killing of “Civil rights is not about parties or ideologies, it is about humanity.”
Sánchez took the opportunity to reject criticism from the PP, which accused him through its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of going to a country at war to generate discord.
The head of the Executive asked the popular ones to be “with human rights” if they do not want to support the Executive. “I am not going to ask this opposition, which is always in the no, to be with the Government, but I am going to demand that it be with human rights, which is what we are defending from the Government of Spain,” he said. he.
Meanwhile, also in Madrid, where he participated in a Christmas event with the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Núñez Feijóo demanded that Sánchez “stop the oucrrences” about Israel and Palestine and “not create a diplomatic conflict in a context of a war conflict”.
“Unfortunately, today Spain is a less reliable country internationally and today we have an absolutely eccentric foreign policy where we do not distinguish between respect for the Palestinian people and condemnation of the terrorist group Hamas,” said the president of the PP, when asked about the open diplomatic crisis. with Israel during Sánchez’s visit to the area.
Feijóo condemned that Sánchez had “broken the consensus” of all previous Spanish governments in relation to the conflict and disgraced that a terrorist organization like Hamas had congratulated the president and his government, Europa Press reports.
“It is evident that we do not see ourselves reflected in the foreign policy of this Government,” added Feijóo, who reproached Sánchez for “not consulting with anyone” about his position, a “unilaterality” that he also described as an “occurrence.” For this reason , urged Sánchez to “tell his EU colleagues if they agree” and clarify “if he is going to break diplomatic relations with Israel”, which he considers that Sánchez has “disrespected” with his position.
“Spain has lost international prestige and our reputation today is worse than 48 years ago,” said the leader of the PP, who called on the entire Executive to make “an express statement about the condemnation of Hamas terrorism.”
Protest before the ambassador
Meanwhile, yesterday the call made by the Israeli Government to the Spanish ambassador in Tel Aviv, Ana Salomon, materialized to protest Pedro Sánchez’s demonstrations at the Rafah border crossing.
Ana Salomon went to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, but it was not the head of the department, Eli Cohen, who received her, but the general director for Europe. As The Diplomat learned from reliable sources, despite Cohen’s words announcing a “harsh reprimand” to reproach what he described as “support for terrorism” on the part of Sánchez and his Belgian colleague, Alexander de Croo, the complaint was maintained on diplomatic terms.
The senior Israeli official conveyed to the ambassador the discontent of the Israeli Government that had already been made public days ago, due to Sánchez’s words describing the actions of the Israeli Army in the Gaza Strip as a massacre, demanding that the humanitarian truce be permanent and announcing the intention to recognize the Palestinian state, even if there is no agreement with other EU countries.
Israel was also bothered by the place and time in which Sánchez and De Croo’s statements were made: at the Rafah border crossing, when all of Israel was waiting for the release of the first group of hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also announced the summons of the ambassadors of Belgium and Ireland, in the latter case, in protest against statements by the Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, in which he celebrated the release of Emily Hand, an Israeli girl. -9-year-old Irish woman, saying she “got lost,” and not mentioning that she was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Eli Cohen accused Varadkar of “legitimizing terrorism.”
Furthermore, it is foreseeable that the Israeli ambassador in Madrid, Rodica Radian-Gordon, who was summoned by the Spanish Government on Friday, in response to the call of the Spanish ambassador, will go to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs today. The Government will express to the representative of Israel that it considers the accusations against Sánchez of supporting terrorism “totally false and unacceptable”, as stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares.
