Supporters of Hamas demonstrate outside the Israeli Embassy in Madrid, Oct. 18. Photo: Reuters/Guillermo Yllanes Gonzalez

The Spanish government is intensifying diplomatic pressure on Israel to curb its military response to the Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities, with its prime minister on Wednesday demanding an immediate ceasefire and its foreign minister declaring that without the creation of an independent Palestinian state, “I do not think we can guarantee the security of Israel.”

Speaking in Brussels, where EU leaders will meet on Thursday to discuss demands for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged a “halt and humanitarian ceasefire” in the escalating war between Israel and Hamas to enable the “urgent introduction of humanitarian aid in Gaza in a manner that is systematic, permanent, and proportionate to the extraordinary needs of the Palestinian people.”

Sánchez essentially repeated the demand he made during a phone call over the weekend with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he stated his backing for a “humanitarian ceasefire” and expressed his “deep concern for the protection of all civilians and the need for sufficient and sustained humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza.” In contrast to many other EU leaders, as well as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Sánchez has placed rhetorical emphasis on the welfare of Palestinians in Gaza since the Oct. 7 pogrom, and has notably not visited Israel, in marked contrast to counterparts including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Meanwhile, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares declared in a television interview on Wednesday that the “two-state solution will bring peace to the Middle East, guarantee security for Israel, and good neighborly relations for Israel, for Palestine, and for the entire region.”

He added: “Without that horizon of hope for the Palestinian people we will not have stability and I do not think we can guarantee the security of Israel.”

Hamas is pledged through its charter to the violent elimination of the State of Israel, while the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority repeatedly challenges Israel’s basic legitimacy in its public statements.

While Sánchez and Albares have established themselves as backers of the Palestinians among European governments that have been strongly supportive of Israel in the wake of the Hamas pogrom, there is pressure on both of them domestically to adopt an even more adversarial stance towards the Jewish state.

Ministers in Sánchez’s left-wing coalition government from Podemos — the far left party that serves as a junior partner — have denounced Israel on several occasions during the past fortnight, sparking concerns from Spanish Jews about rising antisemitism.

On Wednesday, Ione Belarra, Spain’s social rights minister and a leader of Podemos, posted a video on the X/Twitter platform calling on EU nations to sever diplomatic ties with Israel and comparing Jerusalem’s defensive war against Hamas with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She also demanded stiff economic sanctions against the Jewish state and the prosecution of its leaders for “war crimes.”

Despite the widespread hostility towards Israel in Spain, a group of 30 Jewish women on Wednesday staged a display in Madrid  highlighting the grave plight of 30 Israeli children seized by Hamas terrorists during the pogrom.

Un grupo de madres judías han alzado su voz en Madrid para exigir la liberación inmediata de los 30 niños inocentes que siguen secuestrados en Gaza por los terroristas de Hamas. “Merecen ser liberados”. Y recibir la solidaridad, sin fisuras, de todos los Gobiernos democráticos. pic.twitter.com/SOakcVfkO0

— María Jamardo (@MariaJamardoC) October 25, 2023