Spain intends to put an anti-Israel resolution, which it drafted, up for a vote during an emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.
Penned with the Palestinian Authority and other allies, the resolution calls on member states to “individually and collectively take all measures necessary” to ensure that the Jewish state complies with international law.
The draft demands an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war, reiterating a previous demand for the “immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups.”
Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, previewed the resolution a month ago in an address to the Spanish Parliament, telling lawmakers that it would push for “urgent measures to stop the killing of innocent civilians and ensure humanitarian aid” in Gaza.
Israel and Spain have faced increasingly hostile diplomatic tensions. Sánchez is a member of Spain’s Socialist Party and has been among Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel’s prosecution of the war against Hamas.
Spain recognized a Palestinian state last year, introduced a weapons embargo on Israel and joined South Africa’s genocide lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice, the principal U.N. judicial arm.
Days before Sánchez announced last month that he intended to submit the resolution before the U.N. General Assembly, the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said that Spain, with Ireland and South Africa, was among the “countries that enable antisemitism through their selective criticism of Israel and abuse of the language of human rights.”
Yolanda Díaz, the second Spanish deputy prime minister, said in a speech last year that “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” an antisemitic slogan that calls for erasing the Jewish state.
The General Assembly draft resolution “strongly condemns any use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and supports the U.N. humanitarian aid system, including the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which is under fire for its documented ties to Hamas and other Gazan terror groups.
The draft, which is not legally binding, may change before Thursday’s vote, which will include all U.N. member states.
