Spanish government condemns Israeli attacks on Gaza

Yesterday the Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero underlined the Government's opposition to the Israeli attacks on the Gaza strip. He said that he ‘favoured peace and understanding in the world’. Zapatero also said that he was still waiting for the leader of the opposition PP party, Mariano Rajoy, to ‘say something’ about the Israeli attacks on Gaza. He said that it was his duty to ask for an ‘immediate ceasefire and the start of long lasting peace’ in the area.

These declarations and the Government's support of and participation in the march organised this weekend in Madrid to protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza has been condemned by Israel. The Israeli ambassador in Spain issued a statement on behalf of the Israeli embassy which criticised PSOE’s presence in Saturday's demonstration, and asks why the organisers of the protest and participants did not organise similar marches to protest against indiscriminate attacks by Hamas which for years has indiscriminately attacked Israeli targets using rockets and missiles. It said that the silence on these attacks and the mobilization today against Israel showed a double morality and bias against Israel. The statement also says that regrettably as in all wars there are innocent victims and cites the examples of NATO action in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.