Netanyahu lashes out at Spain and warns: “No country will declare diplomatic war on us without paying a price”

Eduardo González Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday the exclusion of Spain from the multinational body monitoring the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for having “repeatedly” positioned itself “against Israel.” “Israel will not remain silent in the face of those who attack us,” Netanyahu announced in a video released on the social network X. “Spain has defamed our heroes, the soldiers of the IDF, the soldiers of the most moral army in the world,” he continued. “Therefore, I have instructed today that Spain’s representatives be withdrawn from the coordination center in Kiryat Gat, after Spain repeatedly chose to position itself against Israel,” he announced, referring to the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), a multinational body established by US President Donald Trump’s peace plan to monitor the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The CMCC is led by the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), Brad Cooper, and includes personnel from some 20 countries. “Those who attack the State of Israel instead of terrorist regimes will not be our partners regarding the future of the region,” Netanyahu asserted. “I am not prepared to tolerate this hypocrisy and hostility. I do not intend to allow any country to declare diplomatic war on us without paying an immediate price,” he concluded. Sánchez and Feijóo For his part, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, asked the institutions of the European Union this Friday to suspend the association agreement with Israel “for the sake of consistency and also empathy” and because the Netanyahu government is violating many of the articles of the agreement. “Spain, of course, is prepared to take this step along with many other European countries,” he assured. “Let us not allow a new Gaza in Lebanon, because in the face of flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, Europe must act consistently,” he declared at the European Pulse Forum 2026, organized by Politico and beBartlet at CosmoCaixa in Barcelona. At the same forum, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, asserted that his party has always advocated for “restraint,” “de-escalation,” and “diplomacy,” because it is “the only path the West recognizes,” but warned that “there is no room for seeking refuge in tyrannies” and that “no European country should accept congratulations from terrorists and dictators without feeling ashamed, revolting, and distancing itself.” Albares in the Senate For his part, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares asserted this Friday that “Spain’s foreign policy has been clear” in its rejection of the war in the Middle East and, in that regard, called on “all parliamentary groups” to state “clearly” whether they support the Government “in its rejection of this war that violates international law.” “The position that Spain has defended from the outset, and which our partners and the European Union have joined—a ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table—is confirmed as the only possible solution to a war that is unacceptable from the perspective of international law and untenable for Spain, for Europe, and for the vast majority of humanity,” Albares stated during his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to report on Spain’s position regarding the current situation in the Middle East. “In the next two weeks, we hope that the temporary ceasefire will become permanent and lead to lasting peace, but we are already seeing the unacceptable violence unleashed by Israel on Lebanon at the very moment the ceasefire was announced, and the continued attacks on all Gulf countries, could derail and ultimately fail the negotiations in Islamabad, even before the parties sit down at the table tomorrow,” he warned. “Spain’s foreign policy is unwavering: it chooses democracy, the rule of law, rights, dialogue, and peace, and I hope that today everyone will support the Government in its foreign policy,” he stated. “Faced with this war, Spain’s foreign policy has been clear: we have once again led the response within the European Union, guided by the consistency and values of our society,” he continued. “We reject a war that violates international law and about which we have been neither informed nor consulted,” he asserted. “And today I would ask all the parliamentary groups to clearly state whether they support the Government in its rejection of this war, which violates international law. We were the first, and many others are following our position,” he added. Albares also recalled that Spain has “condemned each and every human rights violation committed by the Iranian regime against its people,” voted “in favor of including the Revolutionary Guard on the European Union’s list of terrorist groups,” and “supported all sanctions, including those against the Iranian nuclear and missile programs and for its support of the Russian aggression against Ukraine; that is why we also repeatedly condemn the constant attacks against the Gulf countries.” For his part, José Antonio Monago, of the People’s Party (PP), began his remarks “with an obvious point that should be made very clear: no one serious is in favor of war.” “We defend the protection of the population, we defend humanitarian aid, we defend de-escalation, but we also defend something very basic: that a democracy cannot place itself on the same level as a theocratic dictatorship that represses its people and sponsors regional destabilization,” he continued, referring to Iran. “The issue in the Middle East is very simple: Spain needs a serious foreign policy, it needs to unequivocally condemn terrorism and Iranian projection networks, and it needs to fulfill its commitments to its allies with seriousness, not with erratic shifts. It needs to defend international humanitarian law without turning it into selective propaganda,” he added. In his rebuttal, Albares warned that “the ‘no’ to war is not a slogan; it is the majority sentiment of Spaniards, and it is not serious to say, as your deputy Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo wrote in a tweet, ‘yes to war against Iran,’ and she repeated it again in the Minister of Justice’s speech 48 hours ago.” “It is not serious that you make the intervention you have made and that the same congresswoman contradicts you in writing, showing her admiration for the Americans and Israelis who participate in this operation,” he added.

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