Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of Israel’s sharpest critics in Europe, met on Wednesday in Madrid with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is visiting Spain, and used a joint news conference to again accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza.
“Those responsible for this genocide must be held accountable, sooner or later, so that the victims can find justice, compensation and some peace, and so that a tragedy on this scale can never happen again. Only then can we build a just and lasting peace based on coexistence,” Sanchez said alongside Abbas.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
(Photo: Reuters)
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded in the evening, telling Sanchez, “Do not speak in the name of the future. It is not yours.”
Sanchez received Abbas at the Moncloa Palace, the Spanish prime minister’s official residence, and posted a photo on X of the two walking hand in hand. “Spain will always walk hand in hand with Palestine. A friendly state. A sister state,” Sanchez wrote.
At the news conference, Sanchez called for full enforcement of the ceasefire in Gaza. “Yes, there was an agreement on a ceasefire, but that agreement must be real. It cannot be hollow. We will not rest until the attacks against the population stop and there are no more victims,” he said. Sanchez added that Spain wants to support the Palestinian Authority, which he said must play a central role in shaping the governing mechanisms that will define the future of the Palestinian people.