Albares says that “Lebanon deserves peace” and the Israeli Embassy responds that his country “does too”

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, once again experienced a clash with the Israeli Embassy in Spain on Monday, in this case over a comment by the head of Spanish diplomacy on the situation in Lebanon. “Deeply dismayed by the humanitarian catastrophe in Lebanon,” the minister declared through his official accounts on social networks X and Bluesky, in reference to the latest Israeli bombings in the neighboring country, which have caused dozens of deaths. “We condemn the indiscriminate bombings on the civilian population and the launching of missiles by Hezbollah this weekend,” he continued. “The violence must stop. We demand an immediate ceasefire. Lebanon deserves peace,” he concluded. This message from the minister was answered directly by Dan Poraz, chargé d'affaires at the Israeli Embassy in Madrid and current top representative of the Benjamin Netanyahu Government in Spain. The ambassador, Rodica Radian-Gordon, was called for consultations on May 22, after the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced the decision of the Council of Ministers to approve the State of Palestine, as happened eight days later. “Mr. Minister, Israel also deserves peace,” Poraz said on social media X. “On October 8, Hezbollah began attacking Israel without any provocation, solely for the purpose of saving Hamas in Gaza,” he continued. “Since then, this terrorist organization has launched approximately 15,000 rockets indiscriminately against Israeli towns and cities, almost daily,” he said. According to the chargé d'affaires, “for a year, Israel acted with restraint, making every possible effort to reach a diplomatic solution,” but “in the meantime, towns in northern Israel have been left in ruins, and tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced for more than a year.” “Israel is determined to ensure that its citizens can return to their homes safely and to end the terrorist threat from Hezbollah. Israel also deserves peace,” he concluded. The latest spat between Albares and the Israeli government occurred on October 1, after the minister declared, in the press conference after the Council of Ministers, that the government was following with “maximum concern the escalation and extension of the conflict in the Middle East to Lebanon”, which is “unbearable for the most basic humanity and must cease as soon as possible, as we have been requesting for many months now”. He also recalled that Spain had “firmly condemned Hezbollah's missile launches on Israel”, as well as “the Hamas terrorist attack” on October 7, 2023, but warned that “Israel's recent attacks, unfortunately, have also cost the lives of more than 1,600 people in Lebanon, in the last few days alone”. “We are talking about the highest number of victims in Lebanon in the last 30 years”, he said. In response to these words, the Israeli government asked him, through its official account on the X network: “Are Israeli citizens worth less in your eyes?”

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