Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez referred to Israel as a “genocide state” during a parliamentary session Wednesday, prompting the Israeli Foreign Ministry to summon Spain’s ambassador in Israel, Ana Salomon, for a formal reprimand scheduled for Thursday in Jerusalem.
Sánchez, who has repeatedly criticized Israel throughout the war, made the remark in response to a provocative comment from an anti-Israel member of parliament who condemned Spain’s trade relations with what he called the “genocide state” of Israel. Instead of rejecting the terminology, Sánchez echoed it, saying: “We do not trade with a genocide state.”
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez
(Photo: Borja Puig de la BELLACASA / LA MONCLOA / AFP)
Meanwhile, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema sparked controversy Wednesday when she urged the Dutch government to condemn what she described as Israel’s “human rights violations in Gaza” and, for the first time, referred to Israel’s actions as “genocide.”
“It’s time for the international community—Europe and the Netherlands—to stand with the Palestinians and the residents of Gaza who are being murdered brutally,” she said. “If respected institutions are reaching such conclusions, we must rise above political disagreements and unequivocally denounce human rights violations.”
Halsema cited remarks by Martin Eyckhoff, director of the Dutch Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD), who recently characterized Israel’s actions as genocide based on scientific analysis. She also announced plans to project an image of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, onto the facade of Amsterdam’s Eye Museum as a gesture of solidarity with victims of the conflict.
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Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Modi Ephraim, issued a sharp response, saying: “I am deeply shocked by the mayor’s remarks. Her statement not only distorts the reality of the current conflict, but also ignores the suffering of Israeli victims and the context in which this war began.”
“To claim that Israel deliberately murders civilians and starves children is not only a lie, but a blood libel—one that echoes the darkest chapters in European history,” he added.
Ephraim emphasized that “on October 7, Israel experienced the most brutal massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.” He also criticized Halsema for failing to mention Hamas atrocities and ignoring the rise of antisemitism in Amsterdam. “It is especially painful to hear such words from the leader of a city with such a deep and tragic Jewish history,” he said.
This is not the first time Salomon has been summoned over inflammatory comments by Spanish officials. In November 2023, she was called in twice in one week following Sánchez’s accusation that Israel was violating international law. Spain later summoned Israel’s ambassador to Madrid, Rodica Radian-Gordon, for a reciprocal reprimand. At the time, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office condemned Sánchez’s statement as “shameful, on a day when Hamas terrorists were murdering Israelis in our capital, Jerusalem.”