Comment: Sánchez's dramatic Israel trip

Did Spain's new PM take a bold, principled humanitarian stance at the Rafah crossing or is he an enemy of Israel and a friend of terrorists?

That was more entertaining, or tense, or undiplomatic, or ideological, than we might have thought at the start of the week. Newly reappointed as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain, and still holding the six-month rotating EU Presidency, Sánchez (PSOE, socialist) went to Israel alongside Belgian PM Alexander de Croo (liberal democrats, Belgium takes over the rotating EU presidency from Spain in January).

Remember that just recently, as part of the coalition deal for the new left-wing government at home with alt-left party Sumar, after several weeks of a terrible Israel-Gaza conflict, and after vociferous public pressure from the interim Social Rights Minister, Belarra (Podemos), in her support of the Palestinian people and her calls for Netanyahu to be hauled before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, Sánchez signed up to the unilateral recogntion of the state of Palestine by the Kingdom of Spain.

Sánchez met Herzog, condemned Hamas terrorism and said the hostages should be released immediately; Sánchez then met Netanyahu and told him that, while Israel has a right to self defence, “it must respect international law and humanitarian law” and that it was “urgent” to stop the “humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”, again proposing his idea of an international peace conference on the issue. Finally, Sánchez met Abbas and said Spain was committed to the two-state solution, the end of “never-ending cycles of violence” and the reestablishment of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza.

Compare that position, at the European level, with the far-right leader in Holland, Geert Wilders, who has just won a general election there, saying Palestinians should be relocated to Jordan, “Jordan is Palestine!”

Then Sánchez and De Croo gave a press conference from the border crossing in Rafah (watch full here). Sánchez called for a lasting ceasfire, again reiterated Spain’s “firme condemnation” of the Hamas attack and Israel’s right to defend itself—within international law—“…but this is not the case. The indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, including thousand of boys and girls, is completely unacceptable” he said: “Violence will only lead to more violence. We need to replace violence with hope, with peace”.

He argued in favour of the two-state solution, to include Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and said, in reference to the Israeli destruction of Gaza over the past few weeks, “this is not fair, this is not a fair response” from the Israeli government. Going even further, the PM said Spain would consider the unilateral recognition of the state of Palestine (remember his new coaliation agreement at home), if his preferred option of full European recognition did not prove fruitful.

That was not what Israel was expecting, it seems, and was certainly off script for the leader of a major Western democracy, a large European economy, and the country holding that current rotating presidency, compared to what we have been hearing from others since October.

Hamas was delighted and issued a statement “appreciating” the “clear and bold positions” outlined by the two European leaders. “The terror organization Hamas's congratulations to the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium are shameful and disgraceful”, tweeted Israeli Foreign Secretary Eli Cohen in disgust, labelling the statements by Sánchez and De Croo as “false claims […] which support terrorism”. Ambassadors have been called in for a telling off and there is now a diplomatic issue.

At home, the right jumped on it. Sánchez had the “effrontery” to try to “lecture Israel” no how it should respond after the Hamas attack, said Abascal (Vox) and spoke of “total shame for Spain” after Hamas “thanked Sánchez for his position”. Feijóo (PP) said Sánchez was “gravely prejudicing the foreign policy of Spain”, adding that “you can’t travel to a foreign country to sow discord” and that the socialist PM had “moved away from the majority of EU and NATO countries” on the issue “by presenting a unilateral proposal”. Yolanda Díaz (Sumar, Deputy PM) said that “Spain should be an example for all of Europe” on the question of the recognition of Palestine. Ayuso (PP, Madrid) wondered “how to define the politician who is always on the side of terrorists: Bildu, the [Catalan separatist] CDRs, Hamas..?”.

El País thinks Netanyahu can’t take criticism and has sided with the PM: “Insted of listening to his citizens and the international community, Netanyahu has chosen diplomatic confrontation with two EU countries”. ABC says Spain “cannot and must not accept applause from Hamas”, and El Mundo blames Sánchez, not Netanyahu, for causing the new diplomatic crisis, as well as a spilt in the EU.

Was Sánchez using the trip to rile the right at home and show himself off to be very left to his (renewed) coalition partners? Is he, as Losantos suggests in his Sunday column today, an “antisemitic” “psychopath” with “no moral values” who has “crossed the Jordan” to join forces with Putin and Teheran? Did he use the trip to make waves and a name for himself on the global stage?

I think clearly not, in this case. I rather see coherence—whether or not each person agrees with it from his own perspective—with a public political commitment for government (the new coalition deal), with sentiment shared by most on the left in Spain, and even on a personal values level. Remember that Sánchez began his international career in Bosnia in the 1990s. The international humanitarian outlook on such matters is not foreign to him by any means. Israel has even clashed with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Guterres, in recent weeks over the framing of the conflict.

Sánchez repeatedly condemned the Hamas attack, called for peace and for an end to the killing, and proposed some constructive solutions (two states, recognition, international peace conference). And he did so probably knowing that what he was about to say would indeed go against the favoured position of Netanyahu’s Israeli government and the mostly rote majority Western support, lest a zealous Israeli Ambassador or professional official spokesperson somewhere accuse them on TV of anti-Zionism or anti-semitism. So he did make waves, and it did become news but in today’s polarised global world, he will have doubtless been derided by conservatives in other Western countries too. So that is a bold, principled thing to do, although not for the reasons Hamas celebrated, and whatever happens next.

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