Spain: Socialist Pedro Sanchez announces a package of measures against Israel

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a Socialist, announced Monday several measures against Israel. Among them an arms embargo on Israel and a ban on ships carrying fuel for the Israeli army docking in Spanish ports.

The Government of Spain, one of the most critical European voices against Israeli actions in Gaza, "has decided to go a step further and immediately implement nine additional actions to stop the genocide in Gaza, to prosecute its executors and to support the Palestinian population." Sanchez's announcement was made in a statement from the Moncloa Palace in Madrid.

"We know that all these measures are not going to be enough to stop the invasion or the war crimes, but we hope that they will serve to add pressure on Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu and his government to alleviate part of the suffering that the Palestinian population is enduring," the leftist leader continued.

Among the measures, which will be implemented "immediately," he highlights the approval of a law that "legally consolidates the arms embargo on Israel, which we have been applying de facto since October 2023."

Likewise, "all ships carrying fuel destined for the Israeli armed forces" will be banned from calling at Spanish ports, and aircraft "transporting defense material destined for Israel" will be denied entry into Spanish airspace.

The measures also include prohibiting the entry into the territory to those "directly participating in the genocide," banning the entry of products "coming from the illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank" and limiting Spanish consulting services to persons residing in those settlements.

The Israeli Government accuses Spain of carrying out an "anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic campaign"

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday accused the Spanish government of anti-Semitism after its president, Pedro Sanchez made the statements.

"It is clear the attempt by the corrupt Sanchez administration to distract attention from serious corruption scandals, by means of a continued anti-Israel and anti-Semitic campaign," Saar wrote in a lengthy message on the social network X .

The minister said that, by way of sanction, his government will also ban Spanish Vice President and Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz, as well as Youth and Children's Minister Sira Rego, who is of Palestinian origin, from entering Israel.