Spain summons Israel's acting ambassador following comments made by Netanyahu's office

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MADRID (AP) — Spain summoned Israel’s acting ambassador in Madrid Friday in response to comments made by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office that accused the European nation’s prime minister of threatening Israel.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares called in Dana Erlich, Israel’s charge d’affaires in Spain and the highest-ranking diplomat in the country “to categorically reject the false and slanderous statements from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office,” an official at Spain’s Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry official was not authorized to speak publicly and declined to be named.

It's the latest development in an ongoing diplomatic tit-for-tat between the two countries that ensued after Spain's prime minister announced measures Monday to pressure Israel to end the Gaza war.

In a post Thursday on social platform X, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had made a “blatant genocidal threat," in reference to comments made by the Spanish leader when he announced the steps the Spanish government was taking.

“Spain, as you know, doesn’t have nuclear bombs, nor aircraft carriers or large oil reserves. We alone can’t stop the Israeli offensive,” Sánchez said in a televised address Monday.

The measures included an embargo on weapons, ammunition and military equipment sold to or from Israel and blocking Israel-bound fuel deliveries from passing through Spanish ports.

Since then, Israel and Spain have each banned a pair of ministers from the opposite country.

Spain's government has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, which began after Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7, 2023, and abducted 251 hostages.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants.

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