Israel will block the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank following Madrid\u2019s decision this week to recognize a Palestinian state, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Friday.
\nThe move is the latest step in an acrimonious standoff between Israel and Spain, which joined forces with Ireland and Norway to announce it was recognizing Palestine as part of efforts to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza, where the Israeli campaign has killed more than 35,000 people.
\nIsrael has rejected the measure, accusing the three European countries of rewarding Hamas for its devastating attack on Israel on Oct 7 that killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and saw around 250 abducted into Gaza.
\nKatz was particularly angered by what he described as antisemitic comments from Spain\u2019s Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz, who used the expression \u201cPalestine will be free from the river to the sea\u201d in a video posted on X this week.
\nThe expression, first used by the Palestine Liberation Organisation, is taken by many in Israel as a call for the destruction of the Israeli state.
\nDiaz, who is also leader of junior coalition partner Sumar in the Spanish government, said on Friday her words were intended to celebrate an attempt to find a peace through a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict and that she wasn\u2019t an antisemite.
\n\u201cI do not agree with the politics of hate,\u201d she told reporters in Madrid. \u201cI think it was understood what I was trying to explain in the video, that this is a very important step that we have taken as a country.\u201d
\nForeign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Friday that Spain was analyzing Israel\u2019s decision to limit the Spanish consulate\u2019s abilities to serve Palestinians in the West Bank.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re talking about occupied territories recognized by the United Nations. We are analyzing with Norway and Ireland what actions we can take,\u201d he said.
\n(Reuters)consulate. Israel, Spanish consulate, Palestinians<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel is blocking the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to Palestinians in the West Bank after Spain recognized Palestine. Israel accuses Spain, Ireland, and Norway of rewarding Hamas for attacking Israel. Spain’s Labour Minister used an expression that Israel sees as a call for its destruction. Spain is analyzing Israel’s decision to limit the consulate’s abilities to serve Palestinians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,383,7224,1902,1221,1793,6432,3194,2229,1392,10920,145,415,298,10342,1130,299,839,30,4525,69,4711,9597,10836,9729,8737,4941,345,5755,462,4834,301,3775,3839,3260,1806,586,11115,7967,3450,1759,2389,293,6024,1859,6305,18],"class_list":["post-13022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-attack","tag-attacking","tag-bank","tag-campaign","tag-coalition","tag-conflict","tag-destruction","tag-european-countries","tag-foreign-minister","tag-free","tag-gaza","tag-government","tag-hamas","tag-hate","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-labour","tag-labour-minister","tag-liberation","tag-middle-east","tag-middle-east-conflict","tag-move","tag-norway","tag-occupied","tag-occupied-territories","tag-organisation","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-state","tag-palestinians","tag-peace","tag-politics","tag-pressure","tag-river","tag-sea","tag-services","tag-spain","tag-spanish-consulate","tag-state","tag-two-state-solution","tag-united-nations","tag-video","tag-war","tag-war-in-gaza","tag-west-bank","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n