Spanish PM Urges NATO Leaders to Eschew 'Double Standards' on Gaza and Ukraine

While joining leaders of fellow NATO countries in voicing support for defending Ukraine from Russian aggression, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday implored Western nations to avoid "double standards" in the application of international law regarding Israel's war on Gaza.

Sánchez, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party who has led his country since 2018, said during the NATO Public Forum in Washington, D.C. that Western leaders must have "consistent political positions" on Ukraine and Gaza.

"If we are telling our people that we are supporting Ukraine because we are defending the international law, this is the same that we have to do toward Gaza... say that we are backing the international law, especially the international humanitarian law," Sánchez said, drawing applause from the audience.

"We need to create the conditions for an immediate and urgent cease-fire," the prime minister stressed. "There is a real risk of escalation to Lebanon."

Sánchez urged his fellow NATO leaders to do everything they can to "stop this terrible humanitarian crisis" in Gaza and called for an international conference for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

In late May, Spain, Norway, and Ireland formally recognized the state of Palestine, brushing off Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz's threat of "severe consequences" for the three nations. Earlier that month, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution supporting full U.N. membership for Palestine.

Nearly 150 of the world's 193 nations now officially recognize Palestinian statehood, with more considering the move amid what South Africa and dozens of other nations say is Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. Last month, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced that his country had applied to join the South African-led genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

As the ICJ determines whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, the tribunal has ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts in the embattled enclave, to "immediately halt" its offensive in Rafah, and to stop blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza in the face of worsening "famine and starvation."

Israel has been accused of flouting all three orders.

In November, Ione Belarra, then Spain's minister of social rights, called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. In May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said he is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination and using starvation as a weapon of war. He is also pursuing arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders for alleged extermination, rape, and other crimes.

According to Palestinian and international agencies, Israel's nine-month bombardment, invasion, and siege of Gaza has left more than 137,500 Palestinians dead, injured, or missing. Around 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced. The majority of homes and other structures in the embattled strip are destroyed or damaged. Children are starving to death amid a severe shortage of food, water, and medical treatment.

Israel's war—which is a response to the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel that left more than 1,100 Israelis dead and over 240 people from Israel and other countries kidnapped—has sparked ongoing protests around the world, including in Spain.

In November, the city councilors in Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, voted to suspend relations with Israel in a resolution asserting that "no government can turn a blind eye to genocide."

Sánchez isn't the first political leader to call out the West's double standards on Gaza and Ukraine.

"Two years ago, when Americans across the country rallied to offer support and aid to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, so did we," Abdullah Hammond, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan—home to the highest Muslim population per capita in the U.S.—wrote in a February New York Times guest opinion essay decrying the Biden administration's "unwavering" support for Israel.

"There are still blue and yellow flags fading against the facades of homes and businesses across my city," Hammond added. "But when Dearborn residents flew the Palestinian flag this past fall, they were met with threats."

On the world stage, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told European Union leaders at a March summit in Brussels that "the basic principle of international humanitarian law is the protection of civilians."

"We must stick to principles in Ukraine as in Gaza without double standards," he added.