On the evening of September 8, when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez appeared in front of national TV screens, he used a 20-minute speech to start a diplomatic confrontation against Israel and Israel. He used extremely sharp words and resolutely expressed his position. Recognize the Palestinian state.
This statement was naturally strongly opposed by Israel and even banned Spanish officials from entering the country that day. But it was obvious that Netanyahu underestimated Sanchez's determination, as he not only spoke, but actually acted.
The ports were blocked, supplies cut; the arms embargo was broken, thinking about how tough Sanchez’s means were at the same time, Europe also started to “bite” Netanyahu, this time, where will the United States stand?
The real power of the Spanish operation lies in one word – “genocide.”The Sanchez administration has systematically pushed criticism of Israel from the vague political battle of “excessive use of force” directly into the sphere of international law that defines it clearly and has serious consequences.
They publicly stated that the overall goal of all sanctions was to stop the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and “possible acts of genocide,” a term that is a heavyweight bomb for any country, but for Israel it touches the soul.
Because of the history of the Holocaust of the Jewish nation, the term "genocide" is the absolute red line of the spirit and identity of the entire state of Israel, and it challenges the foundation of the state of "never happen again."Therefore, when the Sanchez government tore this card, it was no longer a diplomatic friction, but a direct denial of its national narrative.
Unfortunately, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office’s response was hysterical, and Netanyahu’s insulting Sanchez’s remarks on social media platforms was “a blatant threat of genocide.”
Because once this label is placed, it is no longer a verbal dispute between diplomats, but a real judicial risk that the International Court of Justice may intervene in prosecution.
For example, individuals suspected of committing war crimes and human rights violations in Gaza are directly blacklisted and banned from entering the country. This approach completely imitates the sanctions model of the International Court of Justice, and embodies the accusations against a country into specific individual responsibilities, making the punishment visible and sensible.
More intelligently, Spain wrapped these highly aggressive legal accusations in a set of enforcement tools that are completely legitimate and indisputable, namely national sovereignty.
Closing all its ports, refusing to provide services for ships transporting Israeli military fuel, closing its own airspace and prohibiting aircraft transporting Israeli defence supplies from flying over.
This irritates Israel, but makes it difficult to find an excuse for an attack from a legal level, only to accuse Spain of “seriously disrupting bilateral relations” and “violating international trade rules”.
Israel’s weapons are largely dependent on the United States, and the transport routes can bypass Spain, and the direct military impact of sanctions may be limited, but shipping changes will significantly increase insurance fees and transportation costs, and this long-term, cumulative consumption is also an effective blow.
Meanwhile, this "sovereign" implementation plan is a stone-two-bird for the Sanchez government.In the meantime, in Spain, the popular support for Palestine has been overwhelming, and the demonstrations have rolled out, meeting the expectations of the left-wing ruling coalition voters is the "political red line" that Sanchez must uphold.
In order to make all this not a temporary deal, Spain also plans to tighten the permanent weapons embargo legislation to make it a mandatory law.This is equivalent to declaring to the world that our position is not a temporary impulsive political statement, but a long-term implementation of the national will.
The reason why Israel held an emergency press conference within just a few hours after Sanchez's speech and quickly threw out countermeasures to ban two Spanish cabinet ministers from entering the country is far beyond anger towards Spain itself, but a deep fear. What they really fear is that on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, the EU has never been monolithic.
France and Germany tend to be cautious and ambiguous; while the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries have the potential to follow; while Eastern Europe’s Poland, Hungary and other countries are firmly inclined to Israel.
It has proved one thing to all EU member states: when collective action is deadlocked, it is entirely possible to take meaningful, legal and cost-controllable action unilaterally. This breaks the past dilemma of "either everyone goes together or no one moves".
Israeli Foreign Minister Salar has accused Spain of trying to divert the attention from the domestic political scandal, an accusation of motivation that just exposes their urge to quench the "distortion" anxiety.
As for Israel’s counter-strategy, it is essentially a “killing monkey” performance. By severely punishing Spain, it shows the cost of following other European countries that may be shaken. However, this harsh gesture itself shows how potentially contagious the Spanish action is.
The deeper impact is that if several European countries really follow, the ball will be kicked to the feet of the United States. Washington will fall into an extremely embarrassing situation: Israel, its core Middle Eastern ally, on the one hand, and NATO and the EU on the other.
Spain’s “attack” on Israel, far from a mere diplomatic conflict, is a well-designed strategic pattern that predicts a new model of international struggle being formed by combining the deadly “judicial label” with the relentless “sovereign enforcement”, creating a high-impact, low-risk sanctions paradigm.
In fact, it is not this new method that works, but that Israel has been on the path of isolation for too long, not listening to anyone’s advice, and even wanting to jump out of the U.S. control, so crazyly crashing straight, and will ultimately only go further and further on the road of isolation, and is this really the result that Israel wants to see?
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