{"id":2919,"date":"2026-04-12T23:11:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/2919\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T23:11:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:11:31","slug":"how-spain-became-europes-conscience-as-sanchez-leads-moral-pushback-against-us-and-israel-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/2919\/","title":{"rendered":"How Spain became Europe\u2019s conscience as Sanchez leads \u2018moral\u2019 pushback against US and Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Europe\u2019s challenge is not only to rearm itself to address its security and defence problems, but to also rearm itself morally, so that it can contribute to stable and peaceful development throughout the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the message from Spain\u2019s socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez<\/a>, speaking at a European forum this week<\/a>, with comments that show why his country has been dubbed by some as \u201cEurope\u2019s conscience\u201d.<\/p>\n

From Gaza to Lebanon, Trump to Netanyahu, Spain has stood as something of an outlier in Western Europe for unequivocally taking a stand while other nations have tended to temper their criticism.<\/p>\n

When the US and Israel launched their joint strikes on Iran at the end of February, Mr Sanchez clearly condemned the conflict as an \u201cunjustified and dangerous military intervention that is outside international law\u201d, later branding it \u201cabsurd, cruel and illegal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The relationship between Pedro Sanchez and Donald Trump, pictured here last October, has deteriorated rapidly (Getty)<\/p>\n

He was also quick to deny American forces permission to use jointly operated bases to launch attacks against the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t authorise either the use of military bases or the use of airspace for actions related to the war in Iran,\u201d Spain\u2019s defence minister Margarita Robles said last month. \u201cI think everyone knows Spain\u2019s position. It\u2019s very clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, this week, Spain<\/a> became the first Western country to reopen its embassy in Tehran<\/a> after a fragile US<\/a>–Iran<\/a> ceasefire took hold<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Sanchez appeared unimpressed by the fragile agreement, brokered by Pakistan hours after President Trump threatened to wipe Iranian civilisation off the map, writing: \u201cThe government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Sanchez\u2019s approach has unsurprisingly earned him the ire of both the US and Israel\u2019s leaders. Mr Trump called Spain \u201cterrible\u201d and threatened to cut off all trade over the refusal to use bases in its fight with Iran.<\/p>\n

\"Spain<\/p>\n

Spain has condemned Israel\u2019s war on Lebanon (Getty)<\/p>\n

And on Friday, Mr Netanyahu announced he would be ousting Spain<\/a> from a US-led Gaza military strategy centre in the Israeli city of Kiryat Gat for its \u201chypocrisy and hostility\u201d and for having \u201cchosen repeatedly to stand against Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain has defamed our heroes… the soldiers of the most moral army in the world,\u201d Mr Netanyahu said in a video address posted to X on Friday<\/a>. \u201cI do not intend to allow any country to wage a diplomatic war against us without paying an immediate price.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spain has also condemned Israel\u2019s attacks on Lebanon, accusing the country of trying to \u201cinflict the same level \u2060of damage and destruction\u201d it has done in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere must be no impunity for these criminal acts,\u201d the prime minister said after the latest wave of strikes, before calling for the EU to suspend trade with Israel in a speech on Friday.<\/p>\n

The latest clashes follow Madrid permanently withdrawing its ambassador to Tel Aviv in March after years of disagreements and tensions.<\/p>\n

\"Benjamin<\/p>\n

Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Spain of \u2018defaming Israel\u2019s heroes\u2019 (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Iran appears to have returned the gestures of support, dubbing Spain a \u201cnon-hostile\u201d country. <\/a><\/p>\n

Tehran even <\/a>suggested it may let its ships pass through its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

While other Western European countries have tried to balance criticism of Mr Trump with the need to keep the US on side, Mr Sanchez\u2019s unambiguous approach reflects anti-American sentiment in Spain.<\/p>\n

A majority of Spanish people (51 per cent) believe that Washington poses a threat to Europe, according to a new Politico European Pulse survey released on Thursday \u2013\u00a0the largest proportion of respondents from all countries surveyed.<\/p>\n

Forty-three per cent of Spaniards oppose the US-Israeli war on Iran, while 22 per cent remain neutral.<\/p>\n

A huge 94 per cent of respondents said that Europe needs to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on other major powers.<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators<\/p>\n

Demonstrators march in support of Palestinians in Barcelona (AP)<\/p>\n

Tensions have been bubbling for years, with Spain joining Ireland to become Israel\u2019s staunchest critics of the country\u2019s war in Gaza after October 2023.<\/p>\n

Mr Sanchez openly accused the Israeli government of genocide, claims which Israel has previously dismissed as antisemitic. Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have all agreed with the conclusion.<\/p>\n

The country also became one of the first European nations to recognise the state of Palestine.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain originally condemned attacks by Hamas and acknowledged Israel\u2019s right to self-defence,\u201d said Vuk Vuksanovi\u0107, an associate at LSE Ideas and a lecturer in foreign policy at King\u2019s College London.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadrid views Israeli actions as a disproportionate response with severe humanitarian consequences for the Palestinians and as a main generator of regional instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, Spain has been somewhat at the forefront of condemning both Israeli actions in Gaza and its strikes against Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sanchez,<\/p>\n

Sanchez, right, showing his support for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (AP)<\/p>\n

Mr Vuksanovi\u0107 said that Ireland, Slovenia and Norway had taken similar stances to Spain, providing the country with a \u201creputational boost\u201d as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not geopolitical heavyweights, and they are not gamechangers in terms of Europe\u2019s overall posturing, as Europe, on one hand, avoids the risk of being dragged into an ill-conceived war in Iran,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand, with the exception of Spain and a few other countries, it avoids being vocal in criticism of the US and Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Strait of Hormuz still closed, the reluctance of Nato to intervene has led to Mr Trump making several statements attacking the alliance and complaining of a lack of support.<\/p>\n

But Spain\u2019s cultural history, and geographical position near North Africa, mean that it is particularly mindful of instability in the Middle East, experts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that context, one should remember the terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2004, Spain\u2019s deadliest terrorist attack and one of the deadliest in Europe\u2019s history. It was widely interpreted domestically as being linked to Spain\u2019s involvement in Iraq,\u201d said Mr Vuksanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat came after the attack was the electoral change of government and Madrid pulling its troops from Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s challenge is not only to rearm itself to address its security and defence problems, but to also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[66,574,31,32,2115,2114,560,205,17,964,1971],"class_list":["post-2919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-europe","tag-government-of-spain","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-mr-netanyahu","tag-mr-sanchez","tag-netanyahu","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-spain","tag-trump","tag-western-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}