{"id":2766,"date":"2025-09-16T02:36:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T02:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/spanish-pm-calls-for-israels-ban-from-sporting-events-over-gaza-genocide\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T02:36:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T02:36:42","slug":"spanish-pm-calls-for-israels-ban-from-sporting-events-over-gaza-genocide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/spanish-pm-calls-for-israels-ban-from-sporting-events-over-gaza-genocide\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish PM calls for Israel\u2019s ban from sporting events over Gaza genocide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says Israel must face the same sporting sanctions as Russia did after the Ukraine war.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p data-start=\"228\" data-end=\"424\">Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has urged international sporting bodies to ban Israel from competitions, saying its treatment should mirror Russia\u2019s exclusion after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"426\" data-end=\"900\">Speaking to his Socialist Party on Monday, Sanchez said Israel\u2019s participation in global events was incompatible with its assault on Gaza.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/15\/who-are-the-57-members-of-the-organisation-of-islamic-cooperation\">Who are the 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/15\/arab-islamic-summit-qatars-emir-vows-to-confront-israeli-aggression\">At Doha summit, Qatar\u2019s emir says Israel not interested in ending Gaza war<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2025\/9\/15\/israel-destroys-gazas-tallest-residential-building\">Israel destroys Gaza\u2019s tallest residential building<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p data-start=\"426\" data-end=\"900\">\u201cThe sports organisations should consider whether it\u2019s ethical for Israel to keep participating in international competitions. Why expel Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and not expel Israel after the invasion of Gaza?\u201d he asked. \u201cUntil the barbarity ends, neither Russia nor Israel should be in any international competition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"426\" data-end=\"900\">His remarks came a day after pro-Palestinian activists disrupted the closing stage of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/14\/spains-vuelta-cycling-finale-abandoned-after-pro-palestine-protests\">Vuelta a Espana<\/a> cycling race in Madrid, throwing barriers onto the course in protest at the participation of the Israeli team Israel-Premier Tech. Police clashed with demonstrators near the finish line, leaving 22 people injured and arresting two.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"426\" data-end=\"900\">Last week, Spanish Sports Minister Pilar Alegria said Israeli teams should be banned from sport in the same way that Russian sides broadly were in 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine, highlighting a \u201cdouble standard\u201d.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"426\" data-end=\"900\">Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar lashed out at Sanchez, calling him an \u201canti-Semite and a liar\u201d, without elaborating on why the criticism of Israel\u2019s genocidal war in Gaza was anti-Semitic. Israel has been accused of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/opinions\/2023\/6\/22\/weaponisation-of-anti-semitism-is-bad-for-palestinians-and-jews\">weaponising anti-Semitism<\/a> to target criticism of Israel\u2019s policies against Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"426\" data-end=\"900\">Last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the International Criminal Court anti-Semitic after the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"426\" data-end=\"900\">Tensions between Madrid and Tel Aviv have sharpened in recent months, with Spain\u2019s left-leaning coalition openly backing activists who staged demonstrations during several stages of the Vuelta against the Israeli team\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"weapons-deal-with-israel-cancelled\" data-start=\"1329\" data-end=\"1560\">Weapons deal with Israel cancelled<\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1562\" data-end=\"1814\">Spain is also reportedly planning to scrap a major weapons deal with an Israeli defence manufacturer. According to official documents seen by AFP, Madrid cancelled a contract worth nearly 700 million euros ($824m) for rocket systems designed by Israeli firm Elbit Systems.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1816\" data-end=\"2131\">The deal, signed in October 2023, involved the purchase of Elbit\u2019s PULS rocket launchers, known in Spain as SILAM. Its cancellation brings the total value of Israeli arms contracts annulled by Spain in recent months to nearly one billion euros ($1.2bn). A previous agreement in June, reportedly with defence company Rafael, was also halted.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2133\" data-end=\"2353\">Neither Elbit nor Rafael has formally commented, though the Israeli daily Haaretz, which also reported the cancellation, quoted a source as saying that no official notification of cancellation had yet been received. Neither government has confirmed the move publicly.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2133\" data-end=\"2353\">Al Jazeera, however, could not independently verify the reports.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2133\" data-end=\"2353\">Spanish media reported that Madrid is exploring ways to distance its defence industry from reliance on Israeli technology. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavanguardia.com\/economia\/20250915\/11058899\/gobierno-estudia-indra-escribano-plan-desconexion-armas-israel.html\">La Vanguardia<\/a> said officials are studying a plan with Spain\u2019s main arms producers to replace the Israeli systems affected by the embargo.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2615\" data-end=\"2943\">Last week, Sanchez <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/8\/spain-imposes-total-arms-embargo-on-israel-to-stop-genocide-in\">unveiled nine measures<\/a> aimed at ramping up pressure on Israel, including banning docking and overflight rights for ships and planes carrying weapons to the country. The prime minister framed the steps as part of Spain\u2019s responsibility to push for an end to what he described as Israel\u2019s \u201cbarbarity\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>Other steps include banning imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Sanchez pledging 10 million euros ($11.8m) in new funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and a total of 150 million euros ($176m) in humanitarian aid for Gaza by 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says Israel must face the same sporting sanctions as Russia did after the Ukraine war. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has urged international sporting bodies to ban Israel from competitions, saying its treatment should mirror Russia\u2019s exclusion after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Speaking to his Socialist Party on &#8230; <a title=\"Spanish PM calls for Israel\u2019s ban from sporting events over Gaza genocide\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/spanish-pm-calls-for-israels-ban-from-sporting-events-over-gaza-genocide\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Spanish PM calls for Israel\u2019s ban from sporting events over Gaza genocide\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}