Israel summons Spanish envoy for reprimand after Spain’s PM called Israel a ‘genocidal state’

By Nava Freiberg

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14 May 2025, 9:54 pm 3 Edit

Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivers a speech at Las Cortes Congress of Deputies in Madrid on May 7, 2025. (Thomas Coex/AFP)

After Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called Israel a “genocidal state” while speaking in the Spanish parliament, saying that Madrid “does not do business” with such a country, the Foreign Ministry has summoned the Spanish ambassador to Israel for a dressing down.

“Following the severe remarks made by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish Ambassador to Israel has been summoned for a reprimand meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem tomorrow,” writes the Foreign Ministry in a statement.