{"id":394844,"date":"2025-09-03T15:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/394844\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T15:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:21:10","slug":"impatience-in-madrid-as-pedro-sanchez-puts-europes-inaction-on-gaza-in-the-spotlight-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/394844\/","title":{"rendered":"Impatience in Madrid as Pedro S\u00e1nchez puts Europe\u2019s inaction on Gaza in the spotlight | World news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Against the scale of civilian slaughter, famine and mounting evidence of war crimes in Gaza, Europe\u2019s political leaders have been passive<\/a> to the point of complicity, argue many human rights advocates and even former high-ranking EU officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now the Spanish prime minister has come close to acknowledging as much. In an interview with the Guardian<\/a>, Pedro S\u00e1nchez characterised Europe\u2019s refusal to act against the Israeli government as a moral and political failure that would damage its global credibility for years to come. S\u00e1nchez warned that Europe\u2019s response to \u201cone of the darkest episodes of the 21st century\u201d has been \u201ca failure, absolutely\u201d.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez became the first senior EU leader to accuse Israel of genocide in July \u2013 other governments, including the UK, argue that only international courts can make such a judgment. In today\u2019s interview, S\u00e1nchez admitted Europe<\/a> is operating double standards in how it responds to Ukraine and Israel\u2019s assault on the Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n

The comments reflect increasing impatience in Madrid with the deep divisions that have so far resulted in the EU\u2019s near-paralysis on Gaza \u2013 and a sense among many voters that all EU governments are ignoring the political decisions that have led to this humanitarian catastrophe. Spain\u2019s leader wants the suspension of the strategic partnership the EU has with Israel and said that Spain<\/a> would push Europe to do more, including punishing Israel financially.<\/p>\n

The EU certainly has strong economic levers it could pull, being Israel\u2019s biggest trading partner. An internal review in July could have triggered a suspension of some of the trade concessions Israel enjoys under its \u201cassociation agreement\u201d with the EU. But Israel\u2019s closest EU allies \u2013 Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic \u2013 oppose sanctions. The growing public pressure potentially strengthens Spain\u2019s hand in the EU debate, although as the Patrick Wintour points out, in his analysis<\/a>, S\u00e1nchez is limited to trying to persuade more EU states until there is a majority for suspension.<\/p>\n

An aid flotilla with Greta Thunberg in late August set to sail for Gaza to \u2018break illegal siege\u2019. Photograph: Llu\u00eds Gen\u00e9\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In the meantime, a flotilla set off from Barcelona<\/a> on Sunday, carrying activists including Greta Thunberg, seeking, organisers say, to non-violently \u201cbreak the illegal siege of Gaza\u201d and deliver food and supplies to starving Palestinians.<\/p>\n

More governments are also taking symbolic steps. On Tuesday, Belgium added itself to the list of countries that have or will soon recognise Palestinian sovereignty. France and the UK will follow suit this month. And in Ireland, campaigners claimed victory on Monday after Israel moved approval for the issuance of its war bonds \u2013 which raise cash on international markets for its campaign in Gaza \u2013 from the Irish central bank to Luxembourg.<\/p>\n

But, argued Irish author Naoise Dolan writing about her decision<\/a> to join the flotilla, even European governments that vaunt their solidarity with Palestinians \u201caid and abet\u201d Israel\u2019s war in other ways. She highlighted the impact that video images such as those of a person being beaten up by German police<\/a> at a Gaza protest in Berlin last week would have on public opinion.<\/p>\n

In S\u00e1nchez\u2019s interview, the socialist prime minister also \u201cshowed a willingness to frame a values-based foreign policy\u201d, wrote Patrick Wintour, criticising Donald Trump for the \u201cshocking reality\u201d that the US is now dismantling the rules-based international order it helped to create from the ruins of the second world war.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s \u2018undeniable interference\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ursula von der Leyen, with a German Eurofighter Typhoon behind her, gives a press conference in Romania the day after her plane\u2019s GPS was allegedly jammed. Photograph: Eduard Vinatoru\/AP<\/p>\n

It could be the stuff of a cold war spy novel: the presiding head of Europe\u2019s core political community is touring the bloc\u2019s eastern borders when the radar system of her aircraft is jammed in Bulgarian airspace. The mysterious attack shuts down the plane\u2019s GPS navigation system, forcing the pilots to rely on paper maps to land.<\/p>\n

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But this is not fiction: it happened to Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> last Sunday. The jet carrying the president of the EU commission from Warsaw to Plovdiv in Bulgaria landed safely after what may have been a tense hour in the cockpit. But the incident has heightened fears that as war rages in Ukraine, Russia is stepping up a campaign of hybrid warfare against its European allies.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin denied involvement, telling the Financial Times, which broke the story, its information was \u201cincorrect\u201d. EU officials said the disruption was \u201cundeniable interference\u201d and is being investigated as a suspected Russian sabotage operation. Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said Nato is \u201cworking day and night to counter this, to prevent this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incidents of GPS jamming and \u201cspoofing\u201d, an electronic warfare tactic that causes incorrect navigation information to be displayed, have increased since 2022, and escalated even more sharply in the past year, particularly in the Baltic states.<\/p>\n

Even if destabilising the EU\u2019s frontline states is very much on Putin\u2019s radar, why would von der Leyen be a target? The commission chief has pursued a far more geopolitical agenda than her predecessors and is a robust critic of Putin. Hours before the aircraft incident, on the border between Poland and Belarus, she called the Russian president a \u201cpredator\u201d, following missile strikes on Kyiv that killed at least 23 people and damaged EU offices.<\/p>\n

Under her stewardship the EU has also become more militarised: her four-day tour was about visiting weapons factories and discussing how to build the EU\u2019s defence infrastructure to be able to confront Russia.<\/p>\n

This latest incident is further evidence, as many in Kyiv including Olga Chyzh<\/a> argue, that Russia is uninterested in peace. It also shows that Putin\u2019s war on Ukraine doesn\u2019t stop at Ukraine\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n

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