Ben Pawlowski
ISRAEL’S Foreign Minister has accused Spain of ‘rewarding terror’ as relations between the two countries broke down on the eve of Madrid’s diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state.
Israel Katz added that his country would ‘harm those who harm us’ and warned that ‘the days of the Inquisition are over’ in reference to the infamous 15th century Catholic orthodoxy in Spain which forced millions of Jews and Muslims to either convert to Christianity or flee the Iberian peninsula.
Spain, Ireland and Norway announced last week that they would officially recognise the State of Palestine this Tuesday amid the Israeli-Gaza war which has raged on since October last year, whilst Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles added on Saturday that the conflict is a ‘real genocide’.
In response to Robles’ comments, the Israeli embassy in Madrid tweeted: “We regret that…Robles has endorsed the false and unfounded story of the terrorist organisation Hamas. Israel fights in Gaza in accordance with international law in a war against Hamas that it neither started nor wanted, a consequence of the unprecedented massacre perpetrated last October 7”.
On Sunday, Katz, Israel’s Foreign Minister, posted a video on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) which said: ‘Hamas: Thanks Spain’.
The video showed the Spanish flag followed by a couple dancing to flamenco music. The clip is then interspersed by people fleeing the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel which killed 1,200 people and kickstarted the military campaign in Gaza.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told a press conference in Brussels: “We are not going to fall into provocations. The video is scandalous and exercrable”.
He added: “It’s scandalous because everyone knows, including my counterpart in Israel, that Spain condemned the actions of Hamas from the first moment. And execrable for the use of one of those symbols of Spanish culture”.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, according to health officials.
Israel’s government has come under growing international pressure to halt its offensive in southern Gaza.
On Sunday night, Israeli airstrikes on an area where thousands of displaced Palestinian refugees were sheltering reportedly killed dozens of people.
