The Diplomat
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced today that he has instructed his department to summon Spain’s ambassador to Tel Aviv, Ana Salomon, and her Belgian counterpart for “a stern rebuke” following the remarks by Pedro Sánchez and Alexander de Croo in Rafah.
In the note sent by the Israeli Embassy in Madrid, it is stated that “following the statements of the Prime Minister of Spain and the Prime Minister of Belgium in Rafah, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen instructed that the ambassadors of both countries be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a meeting of reprimand”.
In his account on the social network X, Cohen specified that the ambassadors had been summoned for “a tough reprimand meeting”.
According to the statement, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said: “We condemn the false claims by the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium that they support terrorism. Israel is acting in accordance with international law and is fighting a murderous terrorist organisation worse than ISIS, which is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Cohen added that “after the pause, we will resume the combat operation until Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip is eliminated and all hostages are released”.
In Rafah today, following on from his remarks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the previous day, Sánchez said: “I reiterate Israel’s right to defend itself, but within the parameters and limitations imposed by international humanitarian law. This is not the case.
“The indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, including thousands of children, is completely unacceptable. Violence will only lead to more violence. We have to replace violence with hope and peace,” the chief executive added.
However, according to the Jerusalem Post, what may have provoked the Israeli government’s displeasure is that Sánchez has again claimed in Rafah that the truce agreed by Israel is not enough and that a permanent ceasefire is needed.
Albares: “Totally false and unacceptable”
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, described Israel’s accusations against Sánchez and De Croo as “totally false and unacceptable”, which are “especially serious because it is the president of the Government who represents the presidency of the EU in office and the prime minister who represents the country that will occupy the presidency from January 1.”
“From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs we are analyzing the timely response that we are going to give and there will be a response to these false, misplaced and unacceptable accusations,” Albares announced in statements to the press. Hours later, the minister announced that the Government had summoned the Israeli ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon.
“Since October 7, the President of the Government, myself, the entire Government of Spain did not hesitate to condemn the terrorist attack by Hamas and to make it very clear that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people and is only a terrorist organization,” he continued.
“The President of the Government has expressed it in Israel, he has also expressed solidarity with all the Israeli victims and I want to remember the two Spanish victims, Maya (Villalobo) and Iván (Illarramendi), who will always be in our memory,” Albares continued. . “We have always asked for the unconditional and immediate release of all the hostages, without distinction of nationality or religion, and this is also what the president has transferred to one of the kibbuts that were victims of that terrorist attack,” he added.
“We have always stressed Israel’s right to defend itself from this terrorist attack,” but “this is not incompatible with the message that we have been repeating since day one, and that the President of the Government has also conveyed on his trip to Israel, to Palestine. , to the Middle East, and that right to defend oneself must be done within scrupulous respect for International Humanitarian Law,” declared the minister.
