On Monday, the left-wing Spanish government expressed “discomfort” and “disagreement” with the European Commission’s decision to suspend EU aid to the Palestinians after the Hamas attack, AFP and Agerpres reported.

The head of Spanish diplomacy “José Manuel Albarez had a telephone conversation with the commissioner (European Oliver Varhely) to express his disagreement with this decision”, asking to include it on the agenda of the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid.

Varkheli, the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, announced on Monday afternoon that the EU executive would review its entire aid portfolio to the Palestinians and suspend all aid payments with immediate effect following the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Saturday.

“The scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its citizens is a watershed moment. There can be no business as usual. The European Commission, the biggest donor to the Palestinians, is reviewing its entire portfolio worth 691 million euros,” Vargei announced in a post published on the social media platform “X”, formerly Twitter.

Pedro Sánchez’s partners in the government sharply criticize the suspension of aid to the Palestinians

Spain’s far left, a member of the government led by Pedro Sanchez, sharply criticized the suspension of European aid to the Palestinians on Monday and refused to unequivocally condemn the Hamas attack, sparking a raging controversy in the country.

The suspension of development aid announced by Brussels is a “shameful decision and contrary to international law, which prohibits collective punishment,” said Ernest Urtasun, a spokesman for Sumar, the far-left coalition led by Yolanda Díaz, the third in the government. on the X platform.

“The EU must step up its efforts to achieve peace, not punish the Palestinian people and give free rein to Israel’s terrible repression,” he said.

The party’s general secretary, Enrique Santiago, who is close to Communist Party member Yolanda Diaz, refused to describe Hamas as a “terrorist group” to the media while condemning the attack.

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The extreme left justifies the attack of Hamas by the policies of the Israeli government

Podemos, the main far-left party until it was absorbed by Sumar in the spring, said on Saturday, immediately after the Hamas attack, that “the situation of violence and deaths in Israel and Palestine (is) the result of occupation and apartheid”. .

This refusal by the far left to unequivocally condemn the Hamas offensive puts the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez in an awkward position, which has been heavily criticized by the right-wing opposition.

The conservative Popular Party accused part of the Spanish government of “justifying a terrorist attack on Israel” and deplored “Mr. Sanchez’s political dependence” on the radical left.

“The Sanchez government cannot (…) be divided in the face of such barbarism” committed by Hamas, said one of its representatives in the European Parliament, Dolores Montserrat. In the face of attacks from the right, the Socialists, whose ministers have all condemned the “terrorist attack” by Hamas, reiterated that Spanish foreign policy is their prerogative, not Sumar’s.

Having ruled together since 2020, the Socialists and the far left have already demonstrated their differences in the past on foreign policy, be it military support for Ukraine or the issue of Western Sahara.

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