Israel has sharply criticised Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez after he expressed “regret” that his country did not have “nuclear bombs” to stop Israel’s ongoing military operation against Hamas, which began following the October 7 massacre.
“Spain, as you know, doesn’t have nuclear bombs, aircraft carriers, or large oil reserves,” Sánchez said in a televised speech on Monday. “We alone can’t stop the Israeli offensive. But that doesn’t mean we won’t stop trying,” he lamented.
In his speech, the Spanish prime minister went on to announce a series of measures against Israel, including a ban on ships and aircraft carrying fuel or weapons to Israel.
Spain’s move was welcomed by the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas, which praised the prime minister’s “notable contribution to international efforts” against Israel.
Spain’s El Pais newspaper reported his proposed anti-Israel measures:
Sánchez has announced even more forceful measures, including a decree — which will be approved by the Spanish Cabinet on Tuesday and must be ratified by Congress — that legally enforces what was already happening in practice. According to Sánchez, this entails a total embargo on the purchase and sale of arms to Israel, as well as eight additional measures designed to prevent ships or aircraft that might carry fuel or support to the Israeli military from docking or landing in Spain.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on X, slammed the Spanish leaders’ desire to acquire nukes to destroy Israel, calling it “a blatant genocidal threat on the world’s only Jewish State.”
The Jerusalem Post reported Netanyahu’s response:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused his Spanish counterpart of making a “blatant genocidal threat” after the latter lamented Spain’s lack of “nuclear weapons” to defend against Israel during his announcement of sanctions against the Jewish State.
Responding to this on Thursday, Netanyahu tweeted: “Spanish PM Sanchez said yesterday that Spain can’t stop Israel’s battle against Hamas terrorists because ‘Spain does not have nuclear weapons.’ That’s a blatant genocidal threat to the world’s only Jewish State.”
“Apparently, the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews of Spain and the systematic mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust, is not enough for Sanchez,” he added.
The Spanish prime minister’s outrageous remarks were widely reported in the country’s media and criticized by opposition leaders.
France’s Euronews TV channel reported:
[Some] Spanish media reported on Monday that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had expressed “regret” that his country did not have “nuclear bombs” to stop Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
An article by newspaper La Gaceta was headlined: “Pedro Sánchez regrets not having nuclear weapons to ‘stop’ the Israeli response to Hamas.”
“Sánchez regrets not having nuclear arms to prevent the ‘genocide’ in Gaza,” media outlet OK diario wrote. (…)
Sánchez’s political opponents were swift to accuse him of siding with Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation whose October 7 attacks on Israel initially triggered the war in Gaza.
The leader of the far-right party Vox, Santiago Abascal, claimed that “Sánchez would like to have nuclear weapons … but not to defend Spain. To defend Hamas.”
A spokesperson for the centre-right Popular Party (PP) also questioned what Sánchez had meant with his reference to nuclear arms: “A nuclear bomb on Tel Aviv? Is that what he intends to do?” Carlos Díaz-Pache, the party’s spokesperson in the Assembly of Madrid, asked.
Right-wing commentators have also been quick to judge the premier’s comments.
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