Madrid is escalating diplomatic pressure on Israel with a series of restrictive measures, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday.
Spain will prohibit ships and aircraft carrying weapons to Israel from calling at Spanish ports or entering its airspace. In addition, Madrid will impose an embargo on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, while increasing aid to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“We hope these measures will serve to add pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to alleviate some of the suffering that the Palestinian population is enduring,” Sánchez said in a televised address. He also confirmed that Spain will ban entry to individuals directly involved in what he described as “genocide.”
The announcement drew a sharp rebuke from Israel. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Sánchez of attempting to deflect attention from domestic corruption scandals, describing the measures as “antisemitic.” In response, Israel barred two Spanish cabinet members — Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz and Youth Minister Sira Rego, both from the far-left Sumar party — from entering the country.
The move marks one of the strongest policy shifts within the European Union against Israel since the escalation of the Gaza conflict.