Madrid: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called Israel a “genocidal state” and said Spain “does not do business” with it.
During a parliamentary question-and-answer session in Madrid on 14 May, Sanchez responded to criticism from Catalan MP Gabriel Rufián, who accused him of keeping trade relations with Israel amid the Gaza Strip conflict, the Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
“I want to make one thing clear here, Mr Rufian. We do not do business with a genocidal state – we do not,” Sanchez emphasised.
“I believe that the other day, from this platform, I explained precisely what we were referring to, when certain things were mentioned that do not correspond to the truth,” he added
According to reports, It was Sanchez’s first public use of the term “genocidal state,” commonly used by far-left parties in Spain to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza.
In response, Israel’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Spanish ambassador to Israel for a “reprimand meeting.”
In May 2024, Spain became the 140th country to recognise the State of Palestine. A month later, the government also announced that it would join South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which accuses Israel of committing genocide during its war on Gaza.
The conflict escalated on October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian resistance operation in southern Israel. In response, the Israeli military launched a devastating campaign against the Palestinian population, which has so far killed over 52,000 people, wounded more than 118,000, with more than 14,000 still missing.
