Socialist PM Sanchez announces nine measures which must be approved by the cabinet and later ratified by the Parliament.
Posted on September 8, 2025
Spain has announced radical measures against Israel, including a total embargo of weapons, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez saying that this decision aims to “stop the genocide in Gaza” and “support the Palestinian population”.
“There is a difference between defending your country and bombing hospitals or hungry innocent children,” said Sanchez, one of the most vocal criticisms of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, in a speech published in his official account X.
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“This is an unjustifiable attack on the civilian population. Sixty thousand dead, two million inappropriate, half of them. It is not a self -defense … It is the extermination of a defenseless people. ”
Central of the package, unveiled on Monday, a law on the royal decree which will be approved by the Spanish cabinet and later ratified by the Parliament. The measure formalizes what has been in force since October 2023: a ban on the purchase and sale of weapons, ammunition and military equipment in Israel.
Spain will also prohibit ships carrying fuel for the Israeli army to moor in its ports, will refuse access to airspace to planes carrying defense documents and entry to individuals “directly involved in genocide, human rights violations and war crimes” in Gaza, a restriction that could be applied to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of her government.
Netanyahu and his former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant received an arrest warrant against war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), but several European leaders were criticized for refusing to execute the mandate of the ICC. The United States, the ally closest to Israel and its main military funder, have even slapped sanctions against the prosecutor of the ICC Karim Khan.
Other stages include the ban on imports from the Israeli colonies in occupied West Bank and Sanchez is promised 10 million euros ($ 11.7 million) of new funding at the United Nations Rescue and Work Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and a total of 150 million euros ($ 176 million) in humanitarian aid for Gaza by 2026.
The Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Saar condemned Spain’s measures as “anti-Semites” and accused the Sanchez socialist government of leading a “hostile anti-Israeli line, with uncontrolled and hateful rhetoric”.
The leaders of Israel have often confused criticism of its violations of human rights and abuses against the Palestinians with anti -Semitism. Similar accusations were brought against French President Emmanuel Macron and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in August after announcing recognition of the Palestinian state and called at the end of the war in Gaza.
Israel has also announced that it would prevent two Spanish ministers from entering the country.
Madrid quickly rejected allegations, summoning his ambassador to Israel for consultations. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it “firmly rejects the false and slanderous accusations of anti -Semitism carried by the Israeli government” and that it “would not be intimidated in its defense of peace, international law and human rights”.
“The measures relating to the inhuman situation in Gaza and in the West Bank, announced today by the President of the Spanish government, reflect the majority opinion of the Spanish company and are adopted within the framework of its sovereignty and in accordance with its defense of peace, human rights and international law,” added the ministry.
Spain officially recognized a Palestinian state in May 2024, joining a handful of European nations to do so.
