{"id":461173,"date":"2025-09-29T19:18:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/461173\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T19:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:18:12","slug":"spains-radical-right-says-king-felipe-is-stained-by-gaza-stance-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/461173\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain\u2019s radical right says King Felipe is \u2018stained\u2019 by Gaza stance \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain<\/a>\u2019s King Felipe has found himself at the centre of a bitter debate over the country\u2019s stance on Gaza, with the far-right and pro-Israeli lobbyists accusing him of being manipulated by the country\u2019s government and falling prey to anti-Semitic influence.<\/p>\n

During a speech last week before the United Nations<\/a>, the king issued a severe rebuke of Israel<\/a>. Citing the bombing of civilians, including hospitals and schools, he described such actions in Gaza<\/a> as \u201crepugnant to our human conscience\u201d and bringing \u201cshame upon the international community\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe call on you, we implore you, we demand that you stop this massacre now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such language is broadly in line with the position of the left-wing government of Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, who has been one of Europe\u2019s most outspoken critics of Israel since it responded to the Hamas<\/a> attacks of October 7th, 2023. <\/p>\n

While underlining Israel\u2019s right to defend itself, Mr S\u00e1nchez has repeatedly warned about the need to protect Palestinian civilians. Last year, his government, alongside those of Ireland and Norway, acknowledged a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

\"SpanishSpanish prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez. Photograph: Henry Nicholls\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Mr S\u00e1nchez and his coalition government have intensified their criticism, accusing Israel of genocide and announcing measures against the administration of Binyamin Netanyahu<\/a>, including barring two government ministers from entering Spain and announcing a weapons embargo. <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Mr S\u00e1nchez praised pro-Palestinian protesters who had disrupted the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a cycling race<\/a> because of the involvement of an Israeli team, preventing the event\u2019s final stage from being completed in Madrid.<\/p>\n

Spain, along with Italy, has also deployed a warship to assist the international flotilla <\/a>which is attempting to take aid to Gaza.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Spanish warship to protect Gaza flotilla carrying Irish and international activistsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Israel has responded by repeatedly accusing the Spanish government of anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n

The left-wing M\u00e1s Madrid party has sought to use the monarch\u2019s speech before the UN as the basis for a cross-party statement in the Madrid regional assembly.<\/p>\n

The conservative People\u2019s Party (PP) dismissed the proposal as \u201cwar tourism\u201d. However, Gaza has become a thorny issue for the PP, which has struggled to find a unified voice on it, with some in the party expressing outrage at Israel\u2019s actions while others staunchly defend them.<\/p>\n

Further to the right, however, support for Israel is much more overt and many on the far right have expressed fury at the king for the views he expressed before the UN.<\/p>\n

Hermann Tertsch, an MEP for the Vox party, described King Felipe\u2019s speech as \u201ca globalist socialist and totalitarian pamphlet, slipped in by the criminal S\u00e1nchez\u201d. He added that the Spanish prime minister had \u201cstained the king by putting words in his mouth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Juan Carlos Girauta, a far-right commentator and former Vox politician, said the speech had been \u201ca trap\u201d for the king, set by S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s political right portrays Mr S\u00e1nchez as a radical whose willingness to engage with Catalan and Basque separatists is threatening the country\u2019s democratic order. He insists such moves are simply necessary to ensure parliamentary stability.<\/p>\n

A photograph of the king and S\u00e1nchez sharing a joke during the UN conference has caused others to draw the conclusion that, far from being duped, the monarch is fully in step with the prime minister on this issue.<\/p>\n

In his speech, the king was careful to praise Israel, calling its people \u201cwise and ancient\u201d, while also mentioning Spain\u2019s deep historic links to the Jewish people. They were forcibly converted or expelled in the 15th century and, to make amends, a 2015 law has allowed Jews around the world who can trace their lineage to be granted Spanish nationality.<\/p>\n

But the Spanish-based pro-Israeli lobby organisation ACOM was unimpressed by the king\u2019s mention of that legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe king of Spain is no longer a friend of Israel,\u201d it said in a statement, accusing him of \u201canchoring his reputation to the destiny of a corrupt, criminal and miserably anti-Semitic government\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain\u2019s King Felipe has found himself at the centre of a bitter debate over the country\u2019s stance on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[33784,2000,299,10982,835,837,20418,5338,104,78046],"class_list":{"0":"post-461173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-binyamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-gaza-strip","12":"tag-hamas","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","15":"tag-pedro-sanchez","16":"tag-spain","17":"tag-united-nations-un"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115289201285332461","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}