Spain pushes for international sanctions on Israel, calls to end EU-Israel treaty

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares demands Israel halt its war on Hamas and allow large-scale aid to Gaza, while calling for international sanctions on the Jewish state and global recognition of Palestinian statehood.

By World Israel News Staff

Spain is calling on governments around the world to impose sanctions on Israel and to join Madrid in recognizing unilateral Palestinian statehood, weeks ahead of a planned United Nations summit aimed at consolidating support for a Palestinian state.

On Sunday, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, speaking to the French Info radio network, reiterated his government’s demand that Israel remove all limits on the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

“Humanitarian aid must enter Gaza massively, unimpeded, neutrally, so that it is not Israel who decides who can eat and who cannot.”

Albares also called for an immediate end to the ongoing war against the Hamas terror organization, arguing that the Israeli campaign “no longer has any goal.”

The Spanish foreign minister added that international sanctions should be imposed on Israel to force Jerusalem to end the hostilities in the Gaza Strip permanently.

“The international community must consider sanctions, we must do everything, consider everything to stop this war,” Albares said.

Defending Spain’s decision in May, 2024, to formally recognize the Palestinian Authority as an independent state, Albares noted that 147 nations around the world have thus far recognized Palestinian statehood, despite the lack of a final status agreement with Israel.

“There are almost 150 states in the world today that recognize the Palestinian state. It’s a minority that hasn’t done so yet.”

“I don’t have any lessons to give anyone about its foreign policy,” Albares continued, offering support for the French-Saudi summit planned for next month to encourage additional states to back unilateral Palestinian statehood.

“I think that, if today we truly believe in the two-state solution, which is on the verge of no longer being possible on the ground, the best way to protect it is to recognize the Palestinian state.”