Israel’s foreign minister on Monday sent a letter to Spanish authorities forbidding their country's consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to residents of the Palestinian Authority.
The move follows last week's decision by Spain, Ireland and Norway to recognize a Palestinian state.
“As of 1 June 2024, the Consulate General of Spain in Jerusalem may provide consular services strictly to residents of the consular district of Jerusalem,” the letter states. “The Consulate General, or anyone on its behalf, may not provide services to residents of the Palestinian Authority, nor may it perform any consular or other functions outside the district of Jerusalem, without prior written consent from the Ministry.”
The policy does not apply to consular services for Spanish citizens in the West Bank.
“If this policy is not respected, the Ministry will not hesitate to take further actions,” the letter adds.
It also condemns the “inciting and hateful antisemitic statements by senior Spanish officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz, who was seen chanting ‘from the river to the sea Palestine will be free.’”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that the Jewish state "will not remain silent in the face of a government that rewards terror," adding, "The days of the Inquisition are over. Today, the Jewish people have a sovereign and independent State, and no one will force us to convert our religion or threaten our existence: those who harm us, we will harm them in return."
On Sunday, Katz tagged President Pedro Sánchez on an X post featuring a video of Hamas's October 7 attack with traditional Spanish music in the background. He wrote, “@sanchezcastejon, Hamas thanks you for your service.”
In response, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called the video “scandalous and disgusting," adding, "we will not fall for these provocations."
The post is "scandalous because the whole world knows that we have condemned the actions of Hamas from the first moment, and it is abhorrent because it makes use of one of the symbols of Spanish culture," he said.
Albares made the remarks during a press conference alongside P.A. Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa.
On Monday, Albares called on the European Union to officially back the International Court of Justice’s ruling on Friday that Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
“I am going to ask the other 26 partners to declare the backing of the International Court of Justice and its decision, and also, if Israel continues to pursue against that opinion of the Court, we would try to take the right measures to enforce that decision,” he said.
