In Spain, Pushback Against Sanchez’s Anti-Israel Campaign

Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, was among the earliest European leaders to recently call for recognition of a “state of Palestine.” He has kept up a steady drumbeat of criticism of the Jewish state, accusing it of “war crimes” and even “genocide,” and demanding that it be barred from international sports. But now he faces a backlash, accused of creating an atmosphere in which anti-Israel hostility has led to an increase in antisemitic incidents. More on Sanchez and those speaking out against him can be found here: “Spain’s PM Sánchez Faces Backlash for Fueling Anti-Israel Hostility Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents,” by Ailin Vilches Arguello, Algemeiner, September 16, 2025:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is facing backlash from his country’s political leaders and Jewish community, who accuse him of fueling antisemitic hostility after incidents at the Vuelta a España disrupted the prestigious cycling race.

Amid a sharp rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes and anti-Israel sentiment, Lorenzo Rodríguez, mayor of Castrillo Mota de Judíos in northern Spain, accused the country’s leader of “fueling a discourse of hatred” against Israel and the Jewish people.

“The government is fostering antisemitism that will prove deeply damaging for Spain,” Rodríguez said in an interview with the local outlet El Español.

“Sánchez’s moves are less about serious foreign policy and more about deflecting attention from his trials and failures in governance,” he continued. “Spain isn’t leading anything — it’s merely whitewashing Hamas and other terrorist groups.”

Sanchez’ critics claim that his incessant attacks on Israel are a way for him to distract the public from the embezzlement trial of his wife, that is now going on in Madrid. Anything involving Jews is likely to attract attention — “Jews are news” — and to play into the pre-existing vein of antisemitism in Spanish public life. From the Inquisition of Torquemada, to the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, to the high masses held for Hitler in Spanish churches in the time of Franco, antisemitism has been a part of Spanish life.

On Sunday, anti-Israel protests forced the finale of the Vuelta a España cycle race to be abandoned as police tried to quell demonstrations against the participation of an Israeli team.

In his interview, Rodríguez blamed Sánchez for fostering a hostile climate in Spain, saying the country is witnessing “hatred toward an entire people.”

He also criticized the Spanish leader for failing to take a strong stand on other international crises, including those in Russia and Venezuela.

“We all recognize that the Palestinian people are suffering, but the solution cannot be to blame the Jewish people,” Rodríguez said….

Rodriguez, of course, is right. Israel did not start, and did not want, the war in Gaza. But once Hamas had attacked the Jewish state on October 7, 2023, with 6,000 of its combatants smashing into Israel, where they proceeded to rape, torture, mutilate, and murder 1,200 people and kidnap another 251, Israel had no choice but to go after Hamas in Gaza, and to destroy the terror group so that never again will it be able to threaten the people of Israel.

On Monday, Sánchez called for Israel to be barred from international sports events after pro-Palestinian activists disrupted the finale of the Vuelta cycling race in chaotic scenes in Madrid.

“The sports organizations should ask whether it’s ethical for Israel to continue participating in international competitions. Why was Russia expelled after invading Ukraine, yet Israel is not expelled after the invasion of Gaza?” Sánchez said while speaking to members of his Socialist Party….

Here’s why, Prime Minister: Russia invaded a peaceful neighbor that posed no threat to it, sent in hundreds of thousands of troops, intending to seize large parts of Ukraine and make them permanent parts of Russia. Israel, on the other hand, entered Gaza only in response to the murderous attack by Hamas, and went into Gaza not to annex it, as Putin wants to do with Ukraine, but only in order to fight the terror group Hamas and reduce its power so that it would never again threaten the people of Israel. There is a difference, even if Pedro Sánchez cannot see it.

In one of its latest attempts to curb Israel’s defensive campaign in Gaza, Spain has canceled a €700 million ($825 million) deal for Israeli-designed rocket launchers, as the government conducts a broader review to systematically phase out Israeli weapons and technology from its armed forces.

It will be foolish for Spain to halt its purchase of Israeli weapons, beginning with these rocket launchers, for many Israeli weapons are known to be both superior to those of their competitors, and less expensive as well. That’s why Spain originally agreed to buy $825 million worth of Israeli-designed rocket launchers. If Sanchez wants to cut off his nose to spite his face by phasing out Israeli weapons and technology, it’s the Spanish military that will suffer, and the top brass may express their unhappiness publicly.

[Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon] Saar has denounced Sánchez’s latest actions, accusing the government in Madrid of antisemitism and of pursuing an escalating anti-Israel campaign aimed at undermining the Jewish state on the international stage.

“The government of Spain is leading a hostile, anti-Israel line, marked by wild, hate-filled rhetoric,” Saar wrote in a post on X, accusing Sánchez’s “corrupt” administration of trying to “divert attention from grave corruption scandals.”…

The corruption to which Saar refers involves Sanchez’ wife, Begoñia Gómez, who has long been investigated and was finally indicted on charges of embezzlement and influence-peddling in August 2025. A Madrid judge is investigating whether she misused public resources by having a government-paid aide perform tasks related to her private academic job at Complutense University. Pedro Sanchez’s campaign against the Jewish state is his preferred away to divert attention away from his wife’s legal troubles.

Sánchez is going full steam ahead in his anti-Israeli campaign. He accuses the Jewish state of “genocide.” His anti-Israel animus is no doubt sincerely felt — his antisemitic hatred comes from a long way down — but as his critics, including Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, have noted, he is also using his assault on “genocidal” Israel to distract public attention from his wife’s trial for embezzlement. If justice is done in a Madrid courtroom, Begnñia Gomez will face time in prison, at which point Sanchez himself, sullied by her sentence, and facing a corruption scandal of his own, will no longer be able to use the “crimes” of the Jewish state to ward off his critics. Let’s see how things pan out for this malignant and meretricious man.