Spain summons Israeli charge d'affaires over comments by Netanyahu's office

MADRID: Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares summoned the Israeli charge d’affaires in Madrid over recent comments about Spain made by the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Albares summoned Dana Erlich – currently Israel’s top diplomat in Madrid – to “categorically reject the false and slanderous statements from the Israeli prime minister’s office”, Spain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

In an X post on Thursday, Netanyahu’s office had accused Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of making “genocidal threats”, in reference to Sanchez’s announcement on Monday of new measures against Israel-bound arms and fuel deliveries.

Sanchez had justified the measures by saying Spain lacked nuclear bombs, aircraft carriers or large oil reserves to exert pressure on Israel to stop what he qualified as “genocide”.

Israel has denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide, and it is fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that accuses it of genocide.

The U.S. State Department also expressed concern over Madrid’s limitations on ships and aircraft delivering weapons or military-grade jet fuel to Israel, as well as entry bans on the Israeli national security and finance ministers.