Spain’s foreign minister intends to ask counterparts from other E.U. member states on Tuesday to end the E.U.-Israel Association Agreement, which saves Israel about $1 billion annually in tax dispensations, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Sunday.
Sánchez, who has called Israel a “genocidal state” and whose government has adopted the most anti-Israeli policy of any large E.U. economy, said this during a rally in Huelva, Andalusia, on Sunday.
On Tuesday, foreign ministers of E.U. member states are scheduled to meet in Luxembourg for a policy meeting. It will be the first gathering of its kind since the loss of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his country’s general elections.
Orbán’s government has shielded Israel repeatedly from sanctions that would have required a consensus. His elected successor, Péter Magyar, has advocated a more harmonious relationship with the E.U. than under Orbán.
Spain under Sánchez has imposed a weapons embargo on Israel and joined South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel for alleged genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.
Sánchez wrote on X in English on Sunday: “The time has come for the EU to break its Association Agreement with Israel. We have nothing against the people of Israel; quite the contrary. But a Government that violates international law and, therefore, the principles and values of the EU cannot be our partner.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar responded in a stern Spanish-language post.
“We will not accept a hypocritical lecture from someone who has a relationship with totalitarian regimes that violate human rights, such as Erdogan’s Turkey and Maduro’s Venezuela,” Sa’ar wrote. “A government that receives thanks from Iran’s brutal regime and terrorist organizations, and that has dedicated itself to spreading antisemitism. We have nothing against the citizens of Spain, quite the contrary, but against the double standard of the government of Pedro Sánchez.”
Last week, Shurat HaDin—Israel Law Center, a pro-Israel legal action group, announced that Sánchez was facing a complaint that Shurat HaDin had filed with the International Criminal Court, alleging Spain enabled the transfer of components with a dual use, military or civilian, to Iran worth €1.3 million ($1.53 million).
The components are “critical parts that allow explosive systems to function, in circumstances where their use against civilians was foreseeable,” Shurat Hadin alleged. Under international law, “providing essential components can constitute complicity in war crimes. Iran continues to arm proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis targeting civilian populations,” the NGO continued.
The Iranian regime, Shurat HaDin noted, “made it clear how it sees this support, placing stickers of Sánchez on missiles reading ‘Thank you, Prime Minister.’ Responsibility for war crimes does not stop with those who pull the trigger. It extends to those who provide the means.”
