Spain to ask EU partners to back ICJ over Israel

MADRID (Reuters): Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Monday that he will ask the other 26 European Union member states to issue official backing to the International Court of Justice and take steps to ensure Israel respects its decisions.

“I am going to ask the other 26 partners to declare the backing of the International Court of Justice and its decision, and also, if Israel continues to pursue against that opinion of the Court, we would try to take the right measures to enforce that decision,” he told reporters in Brussels during a joint news conference with his Irish and Norwegian counterparts.

Spain last week announced it would recognise Palestine as a state and in recent days two Spanish government ministers referred to a genocide in Gaza.

Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Saturday that the conflict in Gaza is a “real genocide”, echoing a comment by Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz who last week also described the conflict as a genocide.

Israel has strongly rejected accusations made against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice that it is committing a genocide against Palestinians, arguing it is acting to defend itself and fighting Hamas.

The Israeli embassy in Madrid responded to Robles’ comments in a statement posted on Saturday on X.

“We regret that … Robles has endorsed the false and unfounded story of the terrorist organization Hamas. Israel fights in Gaza in accordance with international law in a war against Hamas that it neither started nor wanted, a consequence of the unprecedented massacre perpetrated last Oct. 7.”

The EU, like the United States, deems Hamas a terrorist organisation.

Spain, along with Ireland and Norway, declared this week it would recognise a Palestinian state on May 28. Israel said this amounted to a “reward for terrorism” and recalled its ambassadors from the three capitals.

In her remarks in a television interview on Saturday, Robles said Madrid’s recognition of Palestine was not a move against Israel but was aimed at helping end violence in Gaza.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and destroyed much of the enclave.

Israel launched the operation to try to eliminate Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.