With the investiture pact running aground – see the article by the director of La Vanguardia, Jordi Juan, published yesterday –, the PSOE is closely monitoring its left flank. He does not want the Gaza crisis to open a gap in his electorate, since Spain is one of the Western countries in which there is greater sympathy for the Palestinian cause. 31% of the Spanish population sympathizes with the Palestinians, compared to 12% who lean towards Israel, according to a study by the global data company You Gov.
In Spain there is more sympathy for the desperate inhabitants of Gaza, today subjected to a brutal siege, than for the harshness of the current Israeli leaders after the atrocious crimes committed by Hamas ten days ago. Hamas terrorism takes a back seat in many people’s minds in the face of events such as yesterday’s massacre in a hospital in Gaza. On social networks, nerves are on edge. The Socialist Party knows this and takes care of its perimeter, in case it is necessary to vote again on January 14.
The acting president, Pedro Sánchez, knows this and that is why he constantly modulates his messages. On October 7, Sánchez did not hesitate to describe the Hamas attack against hundreds of Israeli civilians and other nationalities as a “terrorist act,” in perfect harmony with other European leaders. Ten days later, he did not hesitate to call the Israeli embassy in Spain to a halt after it issued a harsh statement the day before yesterday in which he accused “certain elements of the Spanish Government” [in reference to Minister Ione Belarra, Secretary General of We may] be aligned with “ISIS-type terrorism” [Islamic State]. Belarra had proposed to the PSOE to denounce Israeli Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu before the International Court of Justice in The Hague for war crimes.
The Israeli embassy in Madrid verbally protested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday morning, and in the afternoon, without prior warning, issued a statement accusing Spanish ministers of complicity in terrorism. Sánchez understood that the Government could not remain silent in the face of an accusation of such caliber and commissioned Foreign Affairs to issue a response. Before publishing the note, Minister José Manuel Albares contacted the Israeli ambassador, Rodica Radian-Gordon, with whom he had met the previous week. The reply note says substantively the following: “The Government of Spain categorically rejects the falsehoods expressed in the statement from the Israeli embassy about some of its members and does not accept unfounded insinuations about them.” Interviewed by La Vanguardia last Sunday, Albares had stressed that the only authorized voices of the Government in foreign policy are that of the president and the Foreign Minister. Yesterday the Government considered the clash settled.
Belarra’s words also have context. Podemos fears being left out of the Government if the PSOE manages to close an investiture pact. They believe that Sánchez has already made a decision in this regard, with the consent of Yolanda Díaz, leader of Sumar. Podemos claims the continuity of Irene Montero at the head of Equality and strives to maintain its own profile within Sumar, where she has five deputies out of a total of 31. Podemos knows how to speak loudly and also knows how to lower its voice. When the NATO general assembly was held in Madrid (July 2022), he lowered his voice. Now speak loudly.
The Popular Party also speaks loudly, very loudly, because it smells new elections. The PP does not want anything else since its leading group began to recover from the shock of July 23. Vote again as soon as possible to be able to correct the errors that Narciso Michavila’s polls failed to detect. Overwhelm Vox when it comes to the unity of Spain and present the PSOE as a danger to the continuity of the nation.
With these keys we must read the recent statements by Alberto Núñez Feijóo warning of a horizon “similar to that of the Balkans” as a consequence of Sánchez’s negotiations with the independentists. Aznarism 100% cocoa. Old words. José María Aznar in statements to the Argentine newspaper La Nación in 2007: “Spain is balancing in the abyss, as happened in Yugoslavia.” During those years, the processing of the new Statute of Catalonia was marked by continuous references to the Balkan drama. In the Balkan wars (1991-2001) between 130,000 and 200,000 people died, with millions of civilians driven from their homes. The former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ended up divided into seven independent states.
At the beginning of September, Esteban González Pons, one of Núñez Feijóo’s trusted men, wanted to open negotiations with Junts. “It is a party whose tradition and legality are not in doubt,” he said. At the end of October, Feijóo speaks of “Balkan horizons”.
The investiture pact is stuck and there are only 40 days left. Felipe González returned to the attack yesterday to intercept José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (see box), and the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, will go to the Senate tomorrow to defend the amnesty in a debate promoted by the Popular Party, which he comfortably controls. the Upper House. Coffee days are coming.