Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accuses E.U. foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell of leading an “antisemitic, hate-filled campaign against Israel.”
By JNS
Spain on Friday hosted a senior diplomatic delegation in Madrid to discuss ways to advance a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Today, in Madrid, we are holding a meeting of European countries with the Arab-Islamic Contact Group [for Gaza]to jointly discuss the two-state solution,” tweeted Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
“Together we want to identify concrete actions that will allow us to advance towards this objective. The international community must take a decisive step towards achieving a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” he continued.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares stated that his country supports all ceasefire attempts intermediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States that would end the violence in Gaza, referring to the ongoing war in the Palestinian enclave that was initiated by Hamas on Oct. 7.
The meeting was attended by a string of state representatives highly critical of Israel—such as Turkey, Qatar and Egypt, which are members of the Arab-Islamic Contact Group for Gaza, as well as heads of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, AFP reported.
Foreign ministers of Ireland, Norway and Slovenia also attended, as did E.U. foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa was also present.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz lambasted Borrell for his participation, accusing him on X of being “an anti-Semite and Israel-hater who consistently tries to pass resolutions and sanctions against Israel in the E.U., only to be blocked by most member states.
“There’s a difference between legitimate criticism and policy disagreements, which are normal among friends, and the anti-Semitic, hate-filled campaign Borrell is leading against Israel—reminiscent of history’s worst anti-Semites.”
Katz went on to say that the outgoing E.U. High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs should have joined Western countries in imposing sanction on Iran, “which threatens Europe’s security,” instead of aligning with Tehran’s and its proxies’ “anti-Israel initiatives.”
Last May, in a coordinated move, Spain together with Norway and Ireland recognized a “State of Palestine within the 1967 lines, with eastern Jerusalem as its capital and including the Gaza Strip.”
At the time, Albares described the move as a “historic milestone.”
Last week, Premier Sanchez announced: “Before the end of this year we are going to hold the first bilateral summit between Spain and Palestine, in which we hope to sign several collaboration agreements between the two states.”
Katz said that Spain’s diplomatic efforts in favor of a Palestinian state are “a gold medal to Hamas terrorists who kidnapped our daughters and burned infants.”