Spain on 27 June summoned the Israeli embassy’s chargé d’affaires, Dan Poraz, after the mission issued a statement branding Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s stance on the Gaza war “morally indefensible” and placing Spain “on the wrong side of history.” The Foreign Ministry described the embassy’s language as unacceptable, making this at least the fourth formal reprimand Madrid has delivered to an Israeli diplomat since late 2023. The diplomatic clash followed Sánchez’s remarks at an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, where he called the situation in Gaza a “catastrophic genocide” and urged the bloc to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel. Citing Article 2 of the pact, which conditions ties on respect for human rights, the Spanish premier criticised what he called a double standard that has produced 18 sanction packages against Russia but no comparable action against Israel. Israel’s embassy countered that Spain had failed to condemn attacks on Israeli civilians and said a democratic state facing existential threats has a right to defend itself. The back-and-forth deepens a rift that has widened since Spain formally recognised a Palestinian state in May 2024. The row comes amid continued fighting. Gaza’s civil defence reported 56 deaths in the enclave on Thursday, while the territory’s Health Ministry puts cumulative fatalities above 56,000 since October 2023, figures the United Nations deems credible.