Spain withdraws ambassador from Tel Aviv amid deteriorating ties with Israel

Spain announced on Wednesday that it has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel, Ana María Salomón Pérez, amid a deepening diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Jerusalem.

The decision, made on Tuesday by Spain’s Council of Ministers, was signed by King Felipe VI and Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares.

Pérez had already been called home for consultations in September, after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused the Spanish government of spreading “antisemitism” due to its hostility toward the Jewish state.

Relations between the two countries have sharply deteriorated following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Spanish left-wing government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, has become one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s self-defense operations against the Iranian ayatollah regime and its terrorist proxies – Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen.

At the same time, Madrid has largely turned a blind eye to the genocidal threats posed by the Iranian regime and its regional terror proxies against the Jewish state.

While Spain is not severing diplomatic ties with Israel, the Spanish embassy in Israel will now be headed by its charge d’affaires, who functions as the deputy ambassador. 

In May 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled the country’s ambassadors to Spain, Ireland and Norway after the three European nations unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state. Jerusalem and Washington both viewed this diplomatic move as hostile against Israel, rewarding Hamas for the Oct. 7 attack.

“This (a Palestinian state) would be a terrorist state. It will try to repeat the massacre of October 7 again and again; we will not consent to this,” Netanyahu said at the time. 

While the Spanish government has officially denied spreading antisemitism, its actions suggest otherwise. After Spain recognized Palestine, Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz released a video stating, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” This popular slogan explicitly calls for the elimination of the Jewish state.

Last May, the Spanish prime minister became the first leading Western leader to accuse Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. 

“We don’t trade with a genocidal state. We don’t. I believe I explained from this platform the other day what we’re talking about, when some statements were made that weren’t true,” Sánchez stated during a debate in the Spanish parliament. 

In January 2026, Spain imposed trade restrictions on Israeli products. 

Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu, director of the Israel-Europe Relations Program at the Mitvim Institute, warned that Spain's hostile trade move could inspire other European Union member states to follow suit. 

“When a country of considerable size like Spain advances a move like this, it gives backing to smaller states to follow,” she said.

Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incidents have soared in Spain since the Oct. 7 attack. Last month, an elderly Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust and was wearing a Star of David necklace was expelled from a museum in Madrid after she and her friends were harassed and slandered as “genociders” and “murderers.”

The Israeli Ambassador to Spain Dana Erlich addressed the incident in a post on 𝕏.  

“This weekend we saw how three Jewish women, wearing a Star of David and carrying an Israeli flag, were expelled from a museum in Madrid for displaying these symbols,” she said. “My flag is not a provocation. My flag represents thousands of years of Jewish history. My flag represents the State of Israel.”