Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned Spain ‘s socialist prime minster for issuing what he called a ‘blatant genocidal threat’ against Israel . Spanish leader Pedro Sanchez announced an arms embargo on Israel earlier this week and was criticised for reportedly expressing regret over the country not having nuclear weapons to ‘stop Israel’. 

Addressing journalists in a press conference on Monday, Sanchez said: ‘Spain, as you know, doesn’t have nuclear bombs , nor aircraft carriers, nor large oil reserves. We alone can’t stop the Israeli offensive. But that doesn’t mean we won’t stop trying, because there are causes that are worth fighting for.’

His remarks appeared to anger Netanyahu, who today accused Spain of threatening Israel. ‘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 on the world’s only Jewish State’, he said. Sanchez’s comments angered several others, with critics taking to social media to express their anger at the Spanish leader.

One X user commented: ‘Thank God this crazed Megalomaniac is nowhere near a red button! Get him out of power and in to an asylum!’ Another said: ‘Meanwhile, Israel does have nukes, so pipe down, Sanchez, you rotten demon.’ But others noted how the PM’s comments may have been taken out of context. Spain, which recognised a Palestinian state in May 2024, has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in the Gaza strip.

In Monday’s address, Sanchez said Spain would ban ships and aircraft delivering weapons or military-grade jet fuel to Israel, and said that it would not allow anyone who had participated directly in ‘genocide’ in Gaza to enter Spain – a move that the Israeli foreign minister has denounced as anti-Semitic. Israel has strongly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide, and it is fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that accuses it of genocide. Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip in October, 2023, after fighters from Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in control of the territory, attacked Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar accused Sanchez of using the measures in an attempt to divert attention from domestic corruption scandals, and announced an entry ban on Sanchez’s deputy, Yolanda Diaz, and Youth Minister Sira Rego. Both belong to hard-Left party Sumar, the junior partner in Sanchez’s coalition government. Spain’s Foreign Ministry said Israel’s entry ban was unacceptable, adding that Sanchez’s measures were in line with public sentiment in Spain and reflected Madrid’s support for peace, human rights and international law.

It said Spain was committed to fighting antisemitism, pointing to the granting of Spanish citizenship to 72,000 Sephardic Jews – descendants of those expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century. In a separate statement, the ministry said Spain strongly condemned Monday’s ‘terrorist act in East Jerusalem’, in which Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop, killing six people, including a Spanish national living in Israel.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people on October 7, 2023, and killed some 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians. 48 hostages are still inside Gaza, with around 20 of them believed to be alive. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants.

It says around half of those killed were women and children. Large parts of major cities have been completely destroyed and around 90 percent of some two million Palestinians have been displaced.