The Israeli ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, will return at the beginning of next week after Benjamin Netanyahu’s Executive confirmed “a change for the better” in the Spanish Government’s messages regarding the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as announced the Israeli Foreign Ministry in a statement.
The new head of this department, Israel Katz, in office since January 1, has made the decision after observing a change in the statements by the Spanish Government and due to “the importance of relations between Israel and Spain”, according to the statement.
With the diplomat’s return to Madrid “at the beginning of next week”, Israel intends for her to continue her activity to gain support for Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hamas and international pressure to achieve the release of the hostages still in the hands of the terrorist group in the Strip, Foreign Affairs has explained.
The Israeli ambassador was called for consultations on November 30 following statements by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in which he questioned whether Israel was respecting International Humanitarian Law in its military offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas terrorist attack. on October 7.
Precisely, in its statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry recalled that the ambassador’s call to Jerusalem for consultations came after “a series of problematic statements” by senior government officials.
Already a week before this happened, just when Sánchez was preparing to return from Egypt after a tour that had taken him the day before to Israel and Palestine with the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo, the Israeli Government had called the Spanish ambassador in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Then, Israel was bothered by the President of the Government’s statements from the Rafah crossing, the only gateway for humanitarian aid to Gaza from Egypt, which he considered supported Hamas terrorism, something that was strongly rejected by the Spanish Executive. in turn summoning Radian-Gordon to Foreign Affairs.
The ambassador’s call for consultations, a forceful gesture to show her discomfort, came after Sánchez acknowledged that he had “frank doubts” that Israel was complying with the rules of war when it comes to the protection of civilians. in Gaza in light of the number of victims, including children.
Both during his visit to Jerusalem, where he met with Netanyahu and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and before and after, Sánchez has defended that Spain maintains a clear position on this issue, of outright condemnation of the terrorist attack by Hamas and recognition of Israel’s right to defend itself.
However, the President of the Government has made it clear that the Israeli military response must respect International Humanitarian Law and protect the civilian population.
Sánchez, who has proposed holding an international peace conference when hostilities cease, has also strongly defended that the best way to resolve the conflict is through the materialization of the two-state solution, while at the same time defending that the Authority Palestine, as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians, must be the one to assume control of Gaza once the Israeli offensive against Hamas concludes.
