The Diplomat
The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, yesterday became the first minister of the socialist wing, which has attended a pro-Palestinian demonstration since Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks on Israeli soil carried out on October 7.
The presence of ministers belonging to Sumar, which governs in coalition with the PSOE, has been frequent during the marches held in Madrid in which the actions of the Israeli Army have been criticized, but until now no socialist minister had been present in them.
Yesterday, Puente joined the second vice president and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, and the rest of the ministers of that formation – Mónica García (Health); Ernest Urtasun (Culture); Pablo Bustinduy (Social Rights) and Sara Rego (Youth and Children) – in a demonstration in which they demanded the end of the war in Gaza and denounced the “impunity” with which, according to the organizers, Israel acts, which they accuse of causing “a genocide”.
During the march, which had been called under the slogan “Freedom for Palestine, no to impunity, end to the massacre”, by around thirty political, union and citizen organizations, the Minister of Transport responded to journalists to the complaints made by the general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, who accused the socialists of carrying out a “make-up operation” and demanded that the Government put an end to the sale of weapons to Israel so as not to continue being “complicit” in the “genocide” of the Palestinian people.
Puente, who demanded an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza that would allow for the opening of “a dialogue process,” warned Podemos that a “disservice” is being done to the cause of peace in Palestine by “introducing elements of distortion and conflict.” .
Regarding his presence at the march, Puente said that, in addition to being a socialist, he attended in his capacity as a minister, and that it was a “necessary” march.
The Minister of Transportation did not want to argue about the trip to Palestine announced by Vice President Yolanda Díaz, and of which they claim to have no record in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and limited himself to saying: “The important thing is that the Government has a position common ground on this issue. Along with Puente was Hana Jalloul, secretary of International Policy and Development Cooperation of the PSOE,
For her part, Yolanda Díaz said, in statements to journalists: “We call for an immediate ceasefire now. We do it with the strength we have, we demand that the international community do more and we also urge that the Government of Spain, let’s also commit ourselves more.”
The presence at the march of the socialist minister and all of his Sumar colleagues in the Government occurs a few days after the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, together with the Prime Minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, asked the European Commission to “ undertake an urgent assessment” of Israel’s compliance with its human rights obligations under the EU/Israel Association Agreement, “and if it considers that it is not complying, to propose to the Council appropriate measures to take into account.” consideration”.
