When You Make Yourself the Pariah
Spanish president Pedro Sánchez's latest attempts to hold his feeble left-wing coalition together has come with a diplomatic spat with Israel. Whatever one's opinion on the war in Gaza, the insincerity of the Spanish government's posturing over this conflict can't help any one who might be pro-Palestine. Having ingenuine characters such as Sánchez using what could be a movement for raising awareness, is not desirable in any regard.
The irony is that both Sánchez and Netanyahu are remarkably similar. It's a Frasier-Cam rivalry that makes no sense when you realize how alike these two politicians are. Both have relied on extremist parties to hold together weak coalitions. Both are involved in corruption scandals. And both would do anything to cling desperately to power. The only difference is an aesthetic one: Sánchez chose the left, and Netanyahu chose the right, but otherwise, as like as two corrupt peas in a Machiavellian pod.
Even so, the two have been clashing ever since the war began on October 7th, 2023. Sánchez, whose government contains members of the hysterical hard-left party Sumar, has found himself in a position where Israel has been able to serve a dual purpose. The first is to placate these coalition partners with a cause that does very little damage to himself. The second is to be a distraction from the corruption scandals in his party. Joining both Norway, Ireland, and Belgium in being the most critical European states of the Jewish one, and in provocatively calling to recognize a Palestinian state, has helped legitimize his international presence, which, on the whole, was non-existent prior.
However, Sánchez's Faustian pact to cling to power at the severe detriment of his country is likely to backfire.
This government's list of diplomatic incidents has only grown in Sánchez's second term, but even before he was managing to annoy plenty of previous alliances. In 2022, the government decided to follow the pro-Moroccan line of legitimizing its illegal occupation of Western Sahara, which, consequently, led to a souring of relations with Algeria, leading to Spain having to reassess its gas infrastructure. This move was particularly ironic for Sánchez's then coalition partner Podemos, who have traditional been in support of Western Sahara and the Polisario Front.
After his significant parliamentary maneuvering that allowed him to worm his way back into the presidency in 2023, Sánchez's diplomatic pettiness was taken up a notch. In 2024, his Minister for Transport, the thuggish Óscar Puente, insulted Argentine president Javier Milei, insinuating a drug consumption problem. Whether true or not, Milei hit back, calling Sánchez and his wife, Begoña Gómez, corrupt in reference to the indictments against her. The Spanish goverment then proceeded to act the victim, rather than take the opportunity to be the sword and shield against the international populist right that it claims to be.
Held hostage by the hard-left and the far-left in Congress, Sánchez's line on Israel was tense from the beginning. It did not take long after the expected condemnations of the terror attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and other nationalities, for the knife to be turned on Israel. Yolanda Díaz, leader of Sumar and current Minister for Work, and Podemos has expressed extremist views over Israel, with Ione Belarra, Podemos' heinous demagogue-in-chief, being describe has having contributed to the growing culture of anti-semitic sentiment in Spain.
In his latest round of "diplomacy", Sanchez's government has again tried to isolate Israel and lead European anti-Israeliism, with his latest in threatening to withdraw Spain from the Eurovision song contest if Israel is allowed to compete, highlighting the so-called double standard over the different treatments between Russia and the Jewish state. Indeed, he even took a step further by framing the invasion of Ukraine, a fascist and imperialist attempt to subjugate a free and independent state, and the invasion of Gaza, a nonetheless poorly executed and devastating attempt at regime change in response to the October 7th, in the same light.
This supposed double standard that is often highlighted, only reveals another one: why have the protests for Ukraine not reached the crescendo that the pro-Palestinian ones have?
Like all moralizing busy bodies and annoying provocateurs, the Sánchez's government's constant international hysteria will ultimately make him into a pariah whilst trying to make Israel into one (though it hasn't needed much help). A lesson for all modern leaders, from Aznar to Blair, that foreign policy can often be the final nail in the coffin for politicians if they aren't diligent enough. And Sánchez is becoming more and more reckless...
