Simon Hunter
SPAIN’S Interior Ministry has ramped up security at the Israeli embassy in Madrid after the unprecedented attacks carried out by Hamas on Saturday.
In fact, the order came for increased vigilance on the very morning that the assault began, and included not just the embassy but also other centres where Spain’s Jewish communities congregate across the country.
Countries across the European Union, including Spain, are on high alert after former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal called for Muslims to ‘take to the streets’ in a ‘day of Jihad’ on Friday, as part of a global protest against Israel.
Robert Greenway, director of the Center for National Defense at the Heritage Foundation, told conservative US news website The Daily Signal that this was ‘an unambiguous global call to arms’ and predicted that ‘there will be blood’.
According to a report in Spanish newspaper ABC, the security forces will be on an even higher alert in Spain after Mashal’s comments.
What’s more, the paper reported, any anti-Israeli protests held on Spanish soil could be backed by far-left groups in the country, which have already positioned themselves on the side of the Palestineans in the ongoing conflict.
Should Israel launch an even tougher response against Gaza than it already has, there are fears that even more protesters may be mobilised against the Jewish community in Spain.
Sources consulted by ABC believe that the risk of some kind of terrorist attack in Spain is currently low but could also rise should Israel launch more attacks against Hamas.
The same sources told the newspaper that such an attack is more likely to be carried out by a lone wolf rather than a structured group.
Read more:
- Young Israelis in Spain vow to return home and fight ‘barbaric’ Hamas after losing loved ones in unprecedented attack
- Spain confirms death of Spanish 19-year-old in Hamas attacks on Israel
- Soldier, 19, from Sevilla is among two missing Spaniards in Israel following deadly Hamas attack
