Keeping the distance, the words of President Sánchez at the Rafah border reminded me of those of the EU Sant Andreu, an endearing club with great concerns, when in the midst of the Gaza war he issued a statement: “We demand an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities”. Ah! And also the formula of the two states…

(So ??far, the State of Israel has not responded to the EU Saint Andrew, despite the rage that must have taken Benjamin Netanyahu.)

Pedro Sánchez is a bold leader and, as such, prone to risk. So was Felipe González, but those were other times: there were no networks and nothing was cooked in a minute and a half. Establishing diplomatic relations with Israel took time, patience and judgment. Deteriorating them today, on the other hand, costs very little…

With the exception of Aznar and Zapatero, the foreign policy of the Spanish presidents has had little influence on the assessment of their mandates. European Union, Atlantic Alliance… what more could a country that got rid of two world wars because of its loneliness ask for?

Pedro Sánchez has expressed a foreign policy criterion on Israel and Palestine and legitimate humanitarian concerns but as out of place as the Sant Andreu note on Gaza, a model of toasts to the sun for the 2023 season.

When the world was waiting that afternoon for the departure of the first kidnapped by Hamas, the Spanish president seemed to address exclusively the domestic parish or, by the way, the European left. If Spain wanted to contribute to the inevitable and desirable peace process, it can say goodbye to any role, like the one it did have in the Oslo peace process started with the Madrid conference in 1991.

Some will consider it dignity, others consider it a strategic error, one of these that takes its toll and doesn’t solve the Palestinian drama either. Forms count, so does discretion. The foreign policy of a State should be this, State policy, valid for Government and opposition.

Alas, these scoundrels – or not – of President Sánchez, who overnight already burdened the historical relationship with Algiers and the Polisario to surrender to Rabat. And without saying a peep.