The crisis with Israel reaches its peak after the call of a Netanyahu minister to Sánchez

One of lime and one of sand. After the reprimands of the Israeli authorities to Pedro Sánchez on Thursday, the conciliatory gesture arrived the next day. Benny Gantz, one of the most important ministers in the Government of Israel, called the head of the Spanish Executive by phone to give him explanations and try to allay his fears..

Sánchez stuck to his guns. He reiterated to his interlocutor what he has been saying about the war in Gaza since the investiture session on November 15. His Government avoided, however, deepening the diplomatic crisis with Israel.. He did not respond to the call for questions from the Israeli ambassador in Madrid, Rodica Radian-Gordon, withdrawing, in turn, the Spanish ambassador in Tel Aviv, Ana Salomón. Nor did he call to scold the number two at the Israeli Embassy.

Benny Gantz's call and Spain's refusal to respond to Israel suggest that the bilateral tension, which reached its peak last Thursday, has reached its peak.. That day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on the social network X that the Spanish ambassador was going to be summoned again to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.. Shortly after, his Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, went further and revealed that he had ordered Rodica Radian-Gordon to immediately return to Israel..

It is not every day that a minister calls a head of government and the head of government gets on the phone.. This is what happened this Friday between Gantz and Sánchez. It is unclear whether Benny Gantz took that initiative on his own or did so after consulting with Netanyahu.. Although he does not hold any portfolio, Gantz is not just any minister. He was one of the leaders of the opposition, leader of the right-wing National Unity party, until, on October 12, a coalition Executive was formed.

Not only is he now a member of the Israeli government, but he is also part of the small cabinet conducting the war in Gaza.. It is only made up of three people: Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Gantz himself.. Your presence in that decision-making body makes sense. He was general of the Army, chief of staff for four years and minister of defense for another two years.. When the Pegasus scandal broke out in 2021, he had to give explanations to some of the spied on governments, such as France, although it was his predecessor, Naftali Bennett, who authorized the export of that virus to countries like Morocco..

“I emphasized that, for the sake of Israel's security (…) and the restoration of regional stability, the Hamas terrorist group must be dismantled in Gaza,” Benny Gantz wrote on the social network Friday of his conversation with Sánchez. He thus ruled out a definitive ceasefire, as Sánchez requested, because the Israeli Army is going to conquer the entire Strip until reaching, in the south, the border with Egypt..

I spoke today with Spanish Prime Minister @sanchezcastejon.

I updated the Prime Minister on the war and regional developments and emphasized that for the sake of Israel's security, Israeli civilians' sense of security, and restoring regional stability – terrorist Hamas must be.

— Review – Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) December 1,

“Israel concedes great importance to avoiding, as far as possible, civilian casualties,” Gantz continued. “Hamas, on the other hand, continues to perpetrate horrible crimes against humanity, such as using children and women as human shields for its terrorist activities,” he concluded..

It should not have completely convinced Sánchez to judge, so the Spanish president wrote, in turn, from Dubai on the X network. “(…) I have reaffirmed that Spain considers the death of civilians in Gaza unbearable and that Israel must comply with international humanitarian law”. He once again made it clear that he was not doing it and that was why there were so many civilian victims.

The number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza since October 7 now exceeds 15,000, according to Ashraf al Qudra, the Strip's top health official.. The Israeli Army resumed its offensive on Friday and before night fell there were another 109 deaths caused by its aerial and ground bombardments..

I have spoken with Minister Benny Gantz, @gantzbe, to whom I have reiterated that Israel is a partner and friend of Spain.

Once again, I have condemned the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7.

Spain wants the immediate release of all the hostages.

Israel has…

— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) December 1, 2023

Since the war began, 1.7 million Gazans have moved to the south of the Strip in an attempt, often in vain, to escape the bombings.. If Israel insists on invading the entire Strip and reaching the south, as can be deduced from Netanyahu and Gantz's announcements, there will be many more civilian victims.. Israeli ambassador to the EU, Haim Regev, acknowledged on Friday that “there is no clean way” to end Hamas.

Sánchez cushioned his criticism by describing Israel as “a partner and friend of Spain”. He condemned again, as he already did in each of the stages of his mini tour of the Middle East, “the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7”. He stated that “Spain wishes the immediate release of all the hostages,” still in the hands of Hamas.. He insisted, for the umpteenth time, that “Israel has the right to defend itself”.

The fact that Gantz called Sánchez highlights that the Israeli leadership is concerned about the intentions of the Spanish president.. The head of the Spanish Government has turned out to be the most critical of the invasion among EU leaders. He hopes that the Twenty-Seven will pressure to achieve a definitive ceasefire and, later, a peace conference in which the creation of a Palestinian State, alongside that of Israel, would once again be on the table.. Sánchez also announced, on November 22, that his Government will recognize the Palestinian State alone or, if he manages to convince them, in coordination with other European countries..

When Israel stopped, on Friday, criticizing Sánchez for his foreign policy in the Middle East, the Popular Party took over. It did so first through the mouth of its president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and then through that of its spokesperson in Congress, Miguel Tellado.. The first stressed that with his statements Sánchez “isolates” Spain from the majority position in the EU and NATO. It is true that the bulk of the Member States do not agree with the Spanish president, but there are also those that share his point of view, such as Belgium, Ireland or Turkey.

Tellado was more forceful. He accused the President of the Government of “having created an international crisis by making statements that are inadmissible and that have offended a country that has just been the victim of a serious terrorist attack.”. He added that it was not up to Sánchez to “determine whether he complies with international law or not.”. Sánchez, in any case, will have contributed to provoking a bilateral – not international – crisis with Israel although, formally, it was triggered by Netanyahu on Friday the 22nd when he summoned the Spanish ambassador in Tel Aviv..

He is not the only one who has questioned the Israeli Army's respect for international and humanitarian law.. They also did so from the liberal prime minister of Belgium, Alexander de Croo, to that of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, and Luxembourg, Luc Frieden, both Christian Democrats.. Outside the EU, the Norwegian Social Democrat, Jonas Ghar Stor, has expressed himself in some very similar terms to his Spanish co-religionist.