MADRID: Spain and Israel’s relations plunged to new depths on Tuesday as Madrid barred two far-right Israeli government ministers, a day after announcing measures aimed at stopping what it called “the genocide in Gaza.”
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich would be sanctioned and “not be able to enter Spanish territory,” Madrid’s top diplomat Jose Manuel Albares told a press conference.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday had unveiled nine measures in response to the devastating war in Gaza, launched after Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel in 2023.
The measures included an entry ban on “all those people participating directly in the genocide, the violation of human rights and war crimes in the Gaza Strip.”
Ben Gvir and Smotrich are already the target of sanctions by Western countries including Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovenia.
