SPAIN and Israel have become embroiled in an escalating diplomatic row after an effigy of Benjamin Netanyahu was blown up during a festival on the Costa del Sol.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry summoned Spain\u2019s charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires for a formal reprimand after a seven-metre puppet of the Israeli prime minister was detonated in the town of El Burgo, near Malaga, on April 5.<\/p>\n
The towering figure was packed with 14kg of gunpowder and obliterated as part of what local officials insist is a long-standing Easter ritual dating back decades.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Spain\u2019s Pedro Sanchez urges Beijing to \u2018do more to help end wars\u2019 during fourth visit to China in just three years<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a tradition that\u2019s been carried on since the early 1900s,\u201d said mayor Maria Dolorez Narvaez.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople used to burn effigies symbolising all the bad things that happened during the year, and from that, the good is said to be reborn,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The giant puppet depicted a white-haired man in a suit, with a sign reading \u2018genocida\u2019 (\u2018genocidal\u2019) pinned to its chest.<\/p>\n At its feet, a large black placard declared \u2018no a la guerra\u2019 (\u2018no to war\u2019).<\/p>\n Footage from the scene shows crowds cheering as a series of explosions rip through the effigy, tearing it to shreds amid laughter and applause as the smoke clears to reveal a skeletal metal frame.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Spain\u2019s Pedro Sanchez welcomes Iran war ceasefire but fires broadside at Donald Trump<\/a><\/p>\n Narvaez said the annual event has previously featured figures such as US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n But this year\u2019s display triggered a furious response from Israel, with the Foreign Ministry condemning what it called the \u2018appalling anti-Semitic hatred on display,\u2019 blaming it on \u2018systemic incitement\u2019 by the government of Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister.<\/p>\n Madrid pushed back hard, with a Spanish foreign ministry source telling Reuters the government was \u2018committed to fighting anti-Semitism and any form of hate or discrimination\u2019 and \u2018totally rejects\u2019 any claims suggesting otherwise.<\/p>\n The incident marks another sharp escalation in already strained Spain\u2013Israel relations, which have deteriorated over successive Middle East conflicts.<\/p>\n Under Sanchez, Spain has been an outspoken critic of Israel\u2019s military offensive in Gaza, which has reportedly killed around 72,000 people since October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n Tensions deepened further during the US\u2013Israeli campaign against Iran, with Spain refusing to allow US aircraft access to its Andalucian bases in Rota and Moron for operations.<\/p>\n