Spanish PM urges EU to suspend free-trade agreement with Israel

The politician also criticized Netanyahu's calls to remove UNIFIL soldiers from combat zones in Southern Lebanon.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez looks on after delivering a speech to announce that the country will recognize Palestine as a state on May 28, at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid on May 22, 2024. Photo by Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images.

(Oct. 14, 2024 / JNS)  Spain’s prime minister on Monday urged the European Union to suspend the bloc’s free trade agreement with Israel over its military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.

Pedro Sanchez requested a response from member states to the requests from Madrid and Dublin to halt the EU-Israel Association Agreement, claiming that Jerusalem’s actions during the war may violate the agreement’s human rights clause.

The socialist politician also stated Spain’s opposition to Israel’s request for U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers positioned in Southern Lebanon to move out of harm’s way while the Israel Defense Forces conduct combat operations against Hezbollah terrorists embedded nearby.

“Spain strongly condemns [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s statement. There will be no withdrawal of UNIFIL. It is time for the international community to wake up and act decisively. The international order must be based on the rules that we all give ourselves, not on the strength of a few,” said Sanchez.

The Jewish state has been fighting Hamas in Gaza over the past year after the terrorist group led a mass cross-border attack, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 others.

Jerusalem has recently escalated its response to Hezbollah’s constant cross-border aerial attacks from Lebanon, with the war goal of returning tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to the north.

14/10/2024 by JNS

https://www.jns.org/spanish-pm-urges-eu-to-suspend-free-trade-agreement-with-israel/