Spain pressures the European Union to take action against Israel, following the decision of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to declare a war zone in southern Lebanon, and also calls for sanctions against the Israeli Minister of Security, Itamar Ben Gvir.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, arrived this Thursday at the informal meeting of European foreign ministers with a direct message: “the European Union must stop appeasing Israel” and “raise its voice firmly to tell it that if it wants to relate to us, it cannot behave that way”.
For Albares, the order from the Israeli government is “completely unacceptable” and violates international law. An accusation that, in any case, is not new and that the Spanish government has already made on previous occasions against Israel, as happened when the Israeli Minister of Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, mistreated and belittled the members of the Flotilla detained last week.
One of the measures that the Spanish minister considers possible for the EU to adopt is to prohibit entry into EU territory for Ben Gvir, pointed out by international organizations for his role in the escalation of violence in the West Bank.
Spain’s position has remained the same for months: the association agreement between the EU and Israel must be suspended while violations of international law continue, as it is reserved, according to the minister, for countries that share European values, as reported by Euronews.
Albares acknowledged that the last season has been marked by a “great divergence of positions” among European partners on how to respond to Israel. And although he considered that “there is already a majority of countries in favor of following Spain’s example,” he ended up acknowledging that he is not sure there is a quorum to force a binding vote.
In the event of a total suspension of the agreement, unanimity would be required, while for the suspension of trade advantages, a qualified majority would be sufficient. In any case, the Spanish minister insisted that the Council must vote, even if it is just to ascertain the position of each State.
