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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Sam Jones in Madrid, Rory Carroll in Dublin and Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels

How Spain and Ireland became the EU’s sharpest critics of Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu and Pedro Sánchez pose in front of their respective national flags during their meeting in Jerusalem in November 2023
Israeli-Spanish relations have grown even frostier since Benjamin Netanyahu and Pedro Sánchez met in Jerusalem last year. Photograph: Borja Puig de la Bellacasa/La Moncloa/AFP/Getty Images

Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that the Israeli military’s killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza on Monday night was “a tragic incident” did precious little to allay the fears of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. Nor did his assertion that “this happens in wartime”.

Sánchez, who has been one of the most outspoken and persistent European critics of the way in which Israel has prosecuted its war in Gaza after the terrorist atrocities of 7 October, described the Israeli prime minister’s “supposed explanations” as “totally unacceptable and insufficient”. He added that Spain was waiting for a full and detailed account of the killings before deciding “what action we’ll take with regard to the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu”.

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