Israel took just minutes to respond to the Spanish government's measures against the"genocide" and "extermination" that, Pedro Sánchez argued, Banjamin Netanyahu is carrying out in Palestine. In a harsh statement, he accuses the president of leading"a corrupt government," singles out his relationship with autocratic governments, from Iran to Venezuela, and dates back to"Spain's crimes against the Jewish people."

The reaction signed by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar states that the Spanish government "leads a hostile anti-Israel line, with unbridled rhetoric, full of hate." And although part of Sánchez's accusations, he reserves the measures, such as the entry ban to Israel, for ministers Sira Rego and Yolanda Díaz. He clearly considers them anti-Semitic, although he does not limit that consideration to them.

In its response to Monday's measures from Mocloa, Israel relies on the usual arguments of the Spanish opposition. It sees this initiative as"an attempt by the corrupt Sánchez government to distract attention from the serious corruption scandals through continuous anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic attacks." It then goes on to point out that "the current Spanish government's obsessive activism against Israel is surprising in the context of its ties to tyrannical and sinister governments, from the Hetul regime in Iran to the Maduro government in Venezuela."

Since that presentation, Sa'ar goes back to the Inquisition and denounces that"the lack of historical awareness about Spain's crimes against the Jewish people is surprising, including the crimes of the Inquisition, forced religious conversions and the Spanish Expulsion: the complete ethnic cleansing of the Jews at the end of the 15th century." In later statements on Monday, he insisted on what happened six centuries ago that"the deportation of all the Jews from Spain in 1492 is one of the greatest ethnic cleansings." In that appearance in Hungary, he confronted both Sánchez and Emmanuel Macron, both with"enormous internal problems." And revealing that the objective of Israel's offensive is to expel the Palestinians from their lands, he concluded:"If they are so enthusiastic about establishing a Palestinian State, they have enormous territories, like Spain and France. They can do it on their own territory."

The Israeli foreign minister also frames the Spanish government's measures within an alleged anti-Semitic context in Spain."As you may recall, Spain was the last Western European country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel [1986, already in a democracy, after the opening of negotiations with Calvo Sotelo and with González in Moncloa]." Sa'ar regrets the "deliberate damage to relations, which have been steadily built for decades, during both the mandates of socialist and conservative governments."

In the following paragraph, the Israeli Foreign Minister accuses members of the current government of antisemitism."Not all criticism of Israeli policy is antisemitism," he concedes, but while he understands that there are politicians who indulge in"demonization, delegitimization, and double standards," he believes they are antisemites. He will refer the case to the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), so that it can assess the rating of members of the current government. Escala:"It is no longer possible to avoid the imposition of personal sanctions against members of the Spanish government who have crossed any red line."

The recipients of these sanctions are,"according to the Deputy Minister of the Interior and with the consent of the Prime Minister" of Israel,"the Spanish Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz," who "will be prohibited from entering Israel, and Israel will not maintain any relations with her."

He argues that in October 2023,"days after the massacre," referring to Hamas terrorist attacks, Díaz accused Israel of committing war crimes; in May 2024,"the day after Spain recognized a Palestinian state," he declared that this was "only the first step towards the liberation of Palestine, from the sea to the river." Sa'ar sees in that slogan "a call for the destruction of the State of Israel." Although it has acquired that connotation in the hands of Hamas, its origins are less belligerent, linked to the Palestinian nationalism of Fatah, even limited to equal rights. Netanyahu's ruling Likud party also included that slogan in its ideology, and the occupation of Gaza brings it clearly closer to that goal.

The Foreign Minister continues with a chronology of the"leader of the extremist Sumar party", which includes the qualification of Israel as a"genocidal state", which Sánchez has in some way assumed today, by applying that adjective to the current offensive of the Netanyahu government in Gaza, with the displacement of two million people, the famine affecting the population and tens of thousands of deaths after almost two years of attacks in response to the terrorist act by Hamas, on October 7, 2023, which left 766 Israeli civilian victims, according to figures from her government, and 377 dead among police officers and soldiers. On the side of the attackers, some 1,600 militiamen would have died.

The Netanyahu government sees President Sánchez's move against Israel as a sign of"political weakness" that Díaz is exploiting.

The letter concludes by announcing the same"sanctions" for Sira Rego, because"her statements clearly support terrorism and violence against Israelis."

Sa'ar concludes by warning that he will "inform his allies," a clear reference to the United States,"about the hostile behavior of the Spanish government and the anti-Semitic and violent nature of the statements made by its ministers." He does this, he says, because"it is important that Israel's allies around the world understand the dangerous nature of the current government in Spain."

Díaz and Rego's reactions

Yolanda Díaz has taken with "pride" Israel's veto on her and Sira Rego's entry into the country and has used the clash to redouble pressure to recall the Spanish ambassador in Tel Aviv, which is one of Sumar's demands that the Prime Minister continues to ignore, reports Álvaro Carvajal.

"The Spanish ambassador to Israel must be recalled. You can't ban two ministers from a democratic government from entering a country and continue as if nothing had happened. We must continue acting," the second vice president urged Sánchez. It's worth remembering that bringing back the ambassador is only part of what Sumar is demanding, which is to sever diplomatic and trade relations with Israel.

Regarding the veto, Díaz said that it is"a source of pride that a state that perpetrates genocide would ban us from entering." "We will continue fighting for the rights of the Palestinian people, whether Mr. Netanyahu likes it or not," she stated on Bluesky.

For her part, the Minister of Youth and Children, whose father is Palestinian, also used the social media platform to celebrate the government's measures:"Mobilization is effective. Spanish society, at the forefront, has pushed to activate these nine measures."