Israel removes Spanish personnel from int’l headquarters in Kiryat Gat

Israel on Friday notified Spain that its military contingent will no longer take part in the international Civil Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat.

The CMCC was established to secure the truce in Gaza as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the region.

“The State of Israel will not remain silent in the face of those who attack us,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained the decision in a recorded video posted on X.

“Spain has slandered our heroes, Israel Defense Forces soldiers, the soldiers of the most moral army in the world,” he said. “Therefore, I have instructed that Spain’s representatives be removed from the coordination center in Kiryat Gat, after Spain has repeatedly chosen to stand against Israel.

“Whoever attacks the State of Israel instead of the terror regimes—whoever does so—will not be our partner regarding the future of the region. I will not tolerate this hypocrisy and this hostility. I do not intend to allow any country to wage a diplomatic war against us without paying an immediate price,” Netanyahu said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar charged the Spanish government with leveling “false blood libels” against the Jewish state and the IDF.

Madrid attempted and failed to harm Israel via diplomatic channels, in particular via European Union sanctions, he tweeted.

During the joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, the Spanish government also acted against the interests of Israel and America, he continued, which is why the Israeli government decided to oust the Spanish representatives from the CMCC.

“Spain’s obsessive anti-Israel bias under [Minister Pedro] Sánchez’s leadership is so egregious that it has lost all capability to serve a constructive role in implementing [Trump’s] peace plan and the center operating under it,” Sa’ar said.

On Thursday, Israel’s top diplomat condemned Spain’s decision to reopen its embassy in Tehran, accusing Madrid of aligning itself with “the Iranian terror regime.”

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced the move earlier in the day, saying the country hoped “to achieve peace in the region.” Albares said he had instructed Spain’s ambassador to return to Tehran and resume duties “from every possible quarter, including from the Iranian capital itself.”

Sa’ar wrote on X that Iran was “resuming the execution of its citizens, protesters and political dissidents,” calling Madrid’s decision “an eternal disgrace.”