Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry summoned Spain\u2019s charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires, Francisca Pedr\u00f3s, on Monday to protest remarks by Spanish Minister of Youth and Children Sira Abed Rego.<\/p>\n
The Foreign Ministry said Rego had claimed that the Spanish public supports a Palestinian state \u201cfrom the river to the sea,” a statement used by pro-Palestinian Arabs and long viewed as a statement calling for the destruction of Israel.<\/p>\n
The ministry accused the government of Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez of pursuing a \u201csystematic anti-Israel policy” and pointed to Rego\u2019s previous refusal to condemn the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre. It also noted that Israel barred her from entering the country in September 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Spanish government has lost its moral compass,” the Foreign Ministry said, accusing Madrid of turning Israel into \u201ca punching bag for its foreign policy.”<\/p>\n
The ministry further accused Spain of backing a position that \u201centails the destruction of the State of Israel” while criticizing Israel\u2019s right to defend itself against Iran and Hamas.<\/p>\n
The diplomatic dispute is the latest in a series of clashes between Jerusalem and Madrid. In November 2023, Israel summoned Spain\u2019s ambassador<\/a> after S\u00e1nchez claimed that “Israel is violating international law and is carrying out indiscriminate killings in Gaza.”<\/p>\n S\u00e1nchez again criticized Israel<\/a> in April 2024, describing its response in the Gaza war as “disproportionate” and warning that it could “destabilize the Middle East, and as a consequence, the entire world”.<\/p>\n The following month, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called for international sanctions<\/a> against Israel over the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.<\/p>\n