SPAIN, A THING IN NETANYAHU'S SHOE

The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, spoke on Wednesday before the Parliament of Madrid to express his rejection of the invasion of Lebanon, which is being carried out by Israel, in parallel with the bombings that do not cease in Gaza. “What Israel is doing is invading a sovereign country and the international community must act to prevent it!”, he stressed.

“It is clear that there has been an invasion by a third country of a sovereign state such as Lebanon, and therefore the international community cannot remain indifferent,” the Socialist premier told.

The Lebanese government estimates that 2,000 people have lost their lives due to the attacks of the Jewish forces (Tsahal), while in Gaza there are already more than 41,000. Of all the critics of the war crimes caused by Netanyahu, Sánchez appears to be the greatest of them. Spain has recognized the state of Palestine, infuriating the Jewish government.

In retaliation, Netanyahu has kept his embassy in Madrid without diplomatic personnel, and has banned the Spanish consuls in Tel Aviv and Al Qods (Jerusalem) from holding meetings with Palestinian representatives, which is a violation of the Vienna conference on the rights of diplomatic personnel.

For his part, Foreign Minister Israel Gantz continues his campaign of mockery and attacks against Sánchez and Spain on social media. Gantz lies infamously by depicting the Spanish president as an accomplice of Hamas. There is a lot of hatred towards Spain these days.

It seems that history continues: On March 31, 1492, the “Catholic Monarchs”, Isabel-1 of Castile, and Fernando-II of Aragon, ordered the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, after having evidence that they were trying to Judaize the Spanish Catholics. The latter believed that the Jews had too much economic influence over the kingdoms; and this resentment, combined with religious prejudice, led to the expulsion.

Catholics and Jews lived together without problems, until malicious legends began to spread against the Ibrahic community, which numbered more than 200,000 Sephardim in Spain. The General Inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, upheld the expulsion on the grounds of “national identity,” and gave the Jews a period of four months to leave Spain or convert to Catholicism. The historian, Thomas Walsh, asserts that the Jews in Spain had become “a state within a state.”

One of the worst legends that circulated at the time was that the Jews kidnapped Catholic children to slit their throats and drink their blood. There was never any proof that this was true, although it did influence the growing repugnance between the two communities.

A curiosity in this matter is that Netanyahu has Sephardic origins. The prime minister once revealed that it was Sephardic Jews who came from Spain who settled in the Lithuanian city of Vilna Gaon, where his family comes from.

Returning to the tumultuous relationship between Pedro Sánchez and Netanyahu, the Spanish politician harshly criticizes him but does not insult him. Quite the opposite of the American president, Joe Biden. The latest book by the famous journalist, Bob Woodward, which has just appeared (WAR from Simon & Schuster) contains interviews made in the White House with the president and other officials.

It was known that Biden has accused Netanyahu of having lied to him several times. But Woodward reveals to us that, on one occasion, an excited Biden said to one of his advisers: “Netanyahu is a son a bitch!”