Eduardo González
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced this Monday in Brussels that Spain, “along with five other European Union countries,” has sent a letter to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, asking her to take “all initiatives within her power” to guarantee the “massive entry” of humanitarian aid into Gaza. He also condemned the attack perpetrated this Sunday against the Jewish community in Sydney, Australia, which left at least fifteen dead, and rejected “antisemitism and hate speech.”
“Spain, along with five other European Union countries, has sent a letter to High Representative Kaja Kallas, urging her to ensure that all humanitarian aid—from the European Union, of course—enters Gaza en masse and that she therefore takes every initiative within her power and utilizes all available channels to achieve this,” Albares told reporters in Brussels on Monday upon arriving for the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting. According to sources at the Foreign Ministry who spoke to The Diplomat, the other five countries that signed the letter are Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Slovenia, and Portugal.
He also reported that during the FAC meeting he would be speaking with Steve Witkoff, the White House Special Envoy, and Jared Kushner, advisor and son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, to discuss the “very nascent peace plan,” which is “a ray of hope for the Palestinian people, and particularly for the people of Gaza, but it still needs significant consolidation.” “There is a ceasefire that is far too fragile and, above all, is constantly violated, and therefore it must be definitively consolidated,” he warned.
Furthermore, Albares expressed his rejection of “any form of antisemitism” and reiterated his condemnation of “the antisemitic terrorist attack that occurred in Sydney,” because “antisemitism, hate speech, discrimination, in any form, have no place in our societies, and certainly the Government of Spain, and I as Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, will always combat it.”
“Antisemitism in any form is always despicable, but in its most violent form, such as a terrorist attack, as we experienced yesterday, it is utterly condemnable, and I want to reiterate my condolences to the families of the victims, who are in our thoughts, and of course to the Government and people of Australia,” he added.
On Sunday, the minister posted a message on social media in which he declared himself “horrified by the terrorist attack in Sydney against the Jewish community.” “My solidarity with the victims and their families, with the people and government of Australia,” he continued. “Hate, anti-Semitism, and violence have no place in our societies,” he concluded.
Ukraine
On another note, Albares insisted that “the peace that is designed in relation to the Russian-Ukrainian aggression will also be the future framework for European security” and, therefore, “the voice of Europe, the security of Europe, must be central.” “We cannot allow others to decide for us, and that means continuing to support, as Spain and the European Union have done from the very beginning, President (Volodymyr) Zelensky and the Ukrainian people, so that their sovereignty is respected and their security is always fully guaranteed,” he continued.
“That is why we are in favor of supporting Ukraine in every way,” and for that reason, Spain welcomes the fact that “progress is finally being made on the use of the frozen Russian assets,” Albares stated. “It is vital for Europe, vital for our security, and vital for our sovereignty to find urgent, sustainable, and predictable financing for Ukraine, at least for two years,” whose government “has to face this Russian aggression for a fourth year and another winter in which we continue to witness a flagrant violation of the most basic standards of humanity and international humanitarian law, with bombings of civilian populations and basic energy infrastructure.”
“I want to remind everyone that the asset freeze was a decision we 27 member states made together, very quickly; if I remember correctly, barely 48 hours had passed since the start of the Russian invasion, and it didn’t pose any problem for anyone. I don’t see why we couldn’t find a solution to move forward with that approach,” he insisted.
