MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s foreign minister condemned as “scandalous and execrable” a video posted by his Israeli counterpart suggesting that Hamas would be grateful to Spain, in an escalating dispute between the two countries over the war in Gaza.
Spain announced last week that it would recognize Palestine as a state and in recent days two Spanish government ministers referred to a genocide in Gaza.
A short video posted by the Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on social media platform X on Sunday it says “Hamas: Gracias España” (“Hamas: Thank you Spain”).
The video shows the Spanish flag and a couple dancing to flamenco music. Footage of Hamas fighters is interspersed, including people who fled during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
“We will not fall for provocations. The video is scandalous and execrable,” said Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares at a press conference in Brussels.
“It’s scandalous because everyone knows, including my colleague in Israel, that Spain condemned Hamas’ actions from the beginning. And it is execrable for the use of one of these symbols of Spanish culture.”
Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Saturday that the conflict in Gaza is a “true genocide,” echoing a comment from Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz, who last week also described the conflict as a genocide.
Israel has vehemently rejected accusations made against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice that it is committing genocide against Palestinians, arguing that it is acting to defend itself and combat Hamas.
The Israeli embassy in Madrid responded to Robles’ comments in a statement published Saturday on X.
“We regret that… Robles has endorsed the false and unfounded story of the terrorist organization Hamas. Israel is fighting in Gaza in accordance with international law in a war against Hamas that it neither started nor wanted, a consequence of the unprecedented massacre carried out in the past 7 of October.”
The EU, like the United States, considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
Spain, along with Ireland and Norway, declared this week that they would recognize a Palestinian state on May 28. Israel said this amounted to a “reward for terrorism” and recalled its ambassadors from the three capitals.
In his statements in a television interview on Saturday, Robles said that Madrid’s recognition of Palestine was not a move against Israel, but was intended to help end the violence in Gaza.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and destroyed much of the enclave.
Israel launched the operation to try to eliminate Hamas after the October 7 attack, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli calculations.
(Reporting by Graham Keeley; Editing by Frances Kerry)
