SPAIN’S prime minister Pedro Sanchez has doubled down on his support for the thousands of pro-Palestine protesters who forced the cancellation of the final stage of the Vuelta a España – Spain’s equivalent of the Tour de France.
Speaking the day after the grand finale of the Vuelta was abandoned midway through after an estimated 100,000 people descended on Madrid and blocked the finish line, Sanchez called on Israel to be banned from future sporting competitions, seemingly undeterred by scathing criticism from his political opponents.
Prior to Sunday’s stage, Sanchez told a crowd in Malaga of his ‘absolute respect and admiration…for the Spanish people who mobilise for just causes such as Palestine,’ after demonstrators disrupted multiple stages of the three week-long race over the participation of Israel Premier-Tech, a team owned by an Israeli-Canadian billionaire businessman with links to Binyamin Netanyahu.
The comments were latched onto by Spain’s conservative Partido Popular (PP) opposition and far-right Vox, who accused Sanchez of sowing the seeds of the disorder that forced race organisers to curtail the race’s final 104km-long last leg and left 22 police officers injured.
But speaking on Monday, Sanchez was unrepentant in his criticism of Israel and called on governing bodies to exclude the country from international sport over its ongoing military offensive in Gaza.
“I think that debate that’s begun after what happened here in Madrid yesterday should widen and spread to all corners of the world,” he said.
“It’s already happening in some parts of the world and we’ve seen how European governments are saying that as long as the barbarism continues, Israel can’t use any international platform to whitewash its presence.
“And I think that sports organisations need to ask themselves whether it’s ethical for Israel to keep taking part in international competitions.”
On Sunday, Sanchez said: “Today the Vuelta finishes and we show our absolute respect and recognition for the athletes.
“But also our admiration for the Spanish people who mobilise for just causes such as Palestine. Today Spain shines as an example and as a source of pride. It’s an example to the international community by taking a step forward in defence of human rights.”
Sanchez’s praise of the protesters was criticised by Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, leader of the PP, who said the prime minister and socialist leader was ‘proud of the behaviour of those few people who showed their support for Gaza by throwing barriers at Policia Nacional officers’.
“I defend freedom of expression, as long as it doesn’t involve violence or riots. The government has allowed and induced the non-completion of the Vuelta, and thus an international embarrassment that was televised around the world,” he added.
Other politicians from the PP – Spain’s equivalent of the UK’s Conservative Party – say Sanchez is using the Palestinian cause to deflect attention from cases of alleged corruption that have clouded his inner circle, including his wife, brother and former right-hand man.
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the combative PP mayor of Madrid, said the protests gave Spain’s capital an image of ‘a Sarajevo at war’ and of ‘a city where Jews are persecuted’.
“When the prime minister of the nation encourages a boycott of the Vuelta a España in his own capital, he becomes directly responsible for every incident that occurs, whether the race is stopped or whether there is a single assault,” she said on X.
In response, social rights minister Pablo Bustinduy said the PP ‘cares more about a few fences’ than ‘tens of thousands of people killed’ in Gaza.
Sanchez’s comments were also criticised by Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, who took to social media to label Sanchez and his government ‘Communists’ and ‘a disgrace to Spain’.
Last week, the Israeli government announced that youth minister Sira Rego and deputy prime minister Yolanda Diaz would be banned from entering Israel because of their criticism of its conduct in Gaza.
The move came after Sanchez unveiled a raft of measures designed to ramp up the pressure on Netanyahu’s government over military activity in Gaza, including an arms embargo.
“Spain, as you know, doesn’t have nuclear bombs, nor aircraft carriers, nor large oil reserves. We alone can’t stop the Israeli offensive. But that doesn’t mean we won’t stop trying. Because there are causes worth fighting for, even if winning them isn’t in our sole power,” Sanchez said.
The remarks were heavily criticised by the Israeli government, with Netanyahu denouncing Sanchez’s reference to nuclear bombs as ‘irresponsible and inflammatory’ and a ‘blatant genocidal threat’ against Israel.
In other developments, Spain has pulled the plug on a contract worth nearly €700 million for rocket launchers designed by Elbit Systems, an Israeli firm.
The contract, awarded to a consortium of Spanish companies in October 2023, related to the purchase of 12 SILAM rocket launcher systems, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance assessment of global military capabilities.
The move comes after Sanchez announced a ban on military equipment sales or purchases with Israel as part of his package of measures designed to stop what his government had called ‘the genocide in Gaza’.
READ MORE: Spain threatens to boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest if Israel participate
Elsewhere, Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE has voted to withdraw from the 2026 Eurovision Song Content unless the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – the producers and organisers of the immensely popular annual song competition – expel Israel.
The possibility of next year’s contest going ahead without Spain was first mooted by culture minister Ernest Urtasun last week – and now RTVE’s board have opted by ten votes to four to join the Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland and Ireland in pledging to boycott the competition unless action to remove Israel is taken.
Spain is the first ‘Big Five’ country to threaten a boycott – the name given to Spain, Britain, Germany, France and Italy, the five nations who provide the majority of funding and enjoy automatic qualification to the contest’s grand final every year.
Last year, prime minister Pedro Sanchez accused the EBU of perpetuating a ‘double standard’ by allowing Israel to compete.
Sanchez compared the situation to 2022 when Russia was booted out of the song contest following its invasion of Ukraine.
“Nobody put their hands to their heads when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began three years ago and they were asked to leave international competitions and also not to participate, as we have seen recently, in Eurovision. Therefore, neither should Israel,” Sanchez said.
He added: “Israel should not be allowed [to participate] because what we cannot allow is double standards.”
Spain has been a leading voice against Israel’s military activity in Gaza, which began after over 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists on 7 October, 2023.
According to figures from the territory’s health ministry, at least 64,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict.
