This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Spain says will ‘never recognize’ unilateral annexation of Gaza, West Bank
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares attends the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers at the EU Council headquarter in Brussels, Belgium on 19 February, 2024 [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]
Spain’s foreign minister said Monday that his country and the European Union will “never recognize” any unilateral annexation of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, condemning Israel’s military escalation in the territory, Anadolu reports.
“I spoke out immediately, I firmly condemned it: neither we nor the European Union will ever recognize it,” Jose Manuel Albares told Spanish broadcaster RTVE. “We will never recognize this illegal unilateral annexation of Gaza or the West Bank, where illegal settlements are advancing.”
Albares stressed that what the Middle East needs right now is the security of the Palestinian people, and the security of the people of Israel.
“This escalation in Israel’s military occupation of Gaza will only bring more death, more suffering, further impede the release of the hostages, and destabilize the Middle East,” he warned.
He urged for “a permanent ceasefire, an end to this blockade that Israel is imposing on Gaza, this induced famine, a massive influx of humanitarian aid, the immediate release of all the hostages, and a definitive peace, which is the same as establishing a two-state solution.”
Israel is already facing mounting condemnation for its genocidal war on Gaza, where it has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and led to deaths by starvation.
Vote Labour for Genocide.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.UK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party’s support for and complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
Israeli ambassador to Britain Tzipi Hotovely arrives at BBC Broadcasting House in London, to appear on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, June 15, 2025
SCOTTISH Greens have called for Sir Keir Starmer to expel Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely as they renew their calls for an end to political and military support for the “genocidal assault on Gaza.”
The party’s co-leader Lorna Slater made the remarks after the Prime Minister urged the Netanyahu regime to “reconsider” the escalation of its attack on Gaza, despite his government supplying the Israelis with the military intelligence and armaments necessary to continue an operation which has so far cost tens of thousands of lives.
She said: “The UK government has not been a detached observer in the genocide against Gaza, it has been an active participant.
“Urging restraint is not enough, the hypocrisy must end. The arms sales must stop and so must the military collaboration and political support that has gone with them.
“That must mean backing sanctions against Israeli forces and expelling the Israeli ambassador who has served as a mouthpiece for genocide.
“This has been a disgraceful chapter in UK foreign policy and has made the Prime Minister and his colleagues complicit in some of the worst war crimes of this century.”
Vote Labour for Genocide.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Britain faces pressure to suspend arms sales to Israel following international outcry against plans to take over Gaza City
Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped by parachutes into Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2025
PRESSURE mounted on Britain yesterday to follow Germany’s lead in suspending arms sales to Israel, amid international outcry against Israeli ministers’ plans to take over Gaza City.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Israel’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong and urged the Israeli government to reconsider.
His failure to respond with action, however, despite warnings of more destruction and suffering, was branded “unconscionable” by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).
PSC director Ben Jamal said a full occupation would “mean the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands from their land.
“Those already facing starvation, due to Israel’s blocking of aid, will now be pushed further to the brink by the full siege of the city.
“It is unconscionable that in the face of such an egregious announcement of a planned crime against humanity, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer can only muster the words that this plan is ‘wrong,’ while taking no action to stop it.
“Our government must stop arming Israel, end all military co-operation, end all trade with Israel and introduce a full body of sanctions on this genocidal state.”
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAVote Labour for Genocide.
Protesters demand a European Union arms embargo on Israel and rejection of a trade deal with the country as punishmnent for its annihilation of Gaza during a May 27, 2025 demonstration outside the European Commission office in Barcelona. (Photo: Albert Llop/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“The people have spoken and they refuse to be complicit,” said one campaigner. “Across continents, ordinary citizens demand an end to the fuel that powers settler colonialism, apartheid, and genocide.”
Large percentages of people in five nations want arms, fuel, and machinery embargoes on Israel in response to its obliteration and starvation of Gaza, a poll published Thursday revealed.
The survey—which was conducted last month by Pollfish for the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine and endorsed by Progressive International—queried people in Brazil, Colombia, Greece, South Africa, and Spain about whether their governments, fuel companies, weapons makers, and heavy machinery manufacturers should stop, reduce, continue, or increase business with Israel.
Nearly two-thirds of Spanish respondents said they strongly support or support their government taking action “to reduce trade in weapons, fuel, and other relevant goods to pressure Israel to end its military actions in Gaza.” In Greece, 63% back an embargo, while 35% oppose it. Sixty percent of Colombians, 58% of South Africans, and 48% of Brazilians strongly or somewhat support punitive sanctions on Israel.
Conversely, 27% of Brazilians said they do not support or strongly oppose an embargo on Israel, while 20% of South Africans, 14% of Colombians and Greeks, and 12% of Spaniards feel the same.
Support for ending or reducing weapons transfers was strong in all five nations, with 76% of Colombian respondents, 75% of Spaniards and Greeks, 66% of South Africans, and 59% of Brazilians favoring such action.
A majority of respondents in all five countries also said that companies providing arms, fuel, or heavy machinery to Israel “should be held responsible for how those products are used in Gaza.”
📊 New poll: People across the world say companies selling weapons, fuel, or heavy machinery to Israel should be held accountable for how those products are used in Gaza.🇪🇸 76%🇬🇷 71%🇨🇴 70%🇧🇷 62%🇿🇦 60%#EnergyEmbargoNow #NoFuelForGenocide@progintl.bsky.social
“The people have spoken and they refuse to be complicit,” Global Energy Embargo for Palestine campaigner Ana Sánchez said in a statement.
“Across continents, ordinary citizens demand an end to the fuel that powers settler colonialism, apartheid, and genocide,” Sánchez added. “No state that claims to uphold democracy can justify maintaining energy, military, or economic ties with Israel while it commits a genocide in Palestine. This is not just about trade; it’s about people’s power to cut the supply lines of oppression.”
The poll was published 670 days into Israel’s U.S.-backed assault and siege on Gaza, which has left at least 226,600 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and hundreds of thousands more starving amid increasingly deadly famine as Israel blocks aid from entering the embattled enclave.
The far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—a fugitive from the International Criminal Court wanted for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza—is moving ahead with plans for the “full conquest,” reoccupation, and ethnic cleansing of the strip, which U.S. President Donald Trumpwants to transform into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Israel’s conduct in the war is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case brought by South Africa and supported by around two dozen nations. Among the countries in the survey, Colombia—which severed diplomatic ties with Israel in May 2024—Spain, and Brazil have formally joined or signaled their intent to join South Africa’s case.
The ICJ also found last year that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is an illegal form of apartheid.
“What the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinian people is not war, it is genocide,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in February 2024 shortly after recalling his ambassador to Tel Aviv. “If this isn’t genocide, I don’t know what is.”
On Thursday, European Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera—who is Spanish—toldPolitico, “If it is not genocide, it looks very much like the definition used to express its meaning.”
“What we are seeing is a concrete population being targeted, killed, and condemned to starve to death,” Ribera said. “A concrete population is confined, with no homes—being destroyed—no food, water, or medicines—being forbidden to access—and subject to bombing and shooting even when they are trying to get humanitarian aid. Any humanity is absent, and no witness[es] are allowed.”
Of the surveyed nations, all but Greece support an arms embargo on Israel. The other four countries took part in last month’s Hague Group emergency ministerial conference in Colombia, which was organized by Progressive International and ended with the publication of a joint action plan for “coordinated diplomatic, legal, and economic measures to restrain Israel’s assault on the occupied Palestinian territories and defend international law at large.”
“The message from the peoples of the world is loud and clear: They want action to end the assault on Gaza—not just words,” Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler said in a statement accompanying the new survey’s publication.
“Across continents, majorities are calling for their governments to halt arms sales and restrain Israel’s occupation,” Adler added. “That’s why states are coming together through the Hague Group to take concrete measures toward accountability. It’s time for others to follow their lead.”
Meanwhile, a survey published Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute revealed that 8 in 10 Israeli Jews “are not so troubled or not at all troubled personally” by “the reports of famine and suffering among the Palestinian population in Gaza.”
Eight people, including a child, starved to death in Gaza that day, on which local officials said that more than 80 Palestinians were killed by Israel’s bombs, bullets, and blockade.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
![Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares attends the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers at the EU Council headquarter in Brussels, Belgium on 19 February, 2024 [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/AA-20240219-33749880-33749846-EU_FOREIGN_MINISTERS_MEETING-scaled-e1708426205524.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
Israeli ambassador to Britain Tzipi Hotovely arrives at BBC Broadcasting House in London, to appear on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, June 15, 2025
