Spain’s foreign minister said Thursday that his country will ask a United Nations court to let it join South Africa’s case at the world body’s top court in which Pretoria has accused Israel of “genocide” in the Gaza Strip. The move makes Spain the first European country to take such a step since South Africa filed the case with the International Court of Justice late last year, arguing that Israel is breaching the genocide convention in its military assault that has laid waste to large swaths of the Gaza Strip. Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Libya have also formally requested to join the case being heard at the Hague-based court.
“Our sole goal is to end the war and advance on the road of applying the two-state solution,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said at a press conference. His statement came a week after Spain, along with Ireland and Norway, formally recognized the state of Palestine, sparking fury from Israel.
The announcement by Spain, one of the EU’s largest economies and a NATO ally marked the latest sign of escalating pressure on Israel to end its military offensive in Gaza and open talks toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. It also underscores the growing sense of urgency among a broad international coalition to end the conflict, particularly in the light of the prospect of a more severe humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that could further destabilize the region and the broader Middle East.
Set up after World War II, the ICJ rules in disputes between states. It ordered on Friday that Israel ensure unimpeded access to UN-mandated investigators in the Gaza Strip and do everything it can to prevent acts of genocide during its assault there. In a separate ruling, the court ordered that Israel halt its assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which it has not done.
Spain’s left-wing governing coalition, including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist party, backed the decision to join the case against Israel. The junior partner in the minority government, Sumar, called it a “historic gesture, brave and necessary.” The party wrote on the social media site X that it was “a step to avoid the onset of genocide, which the International Court of Justice has already warned about.”
However, the governing coalition is divided on whether to recognize the state of Palestine as part of its efforts to revive negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. A survey conducted in March by the polling firm Elcano showed that 78 percent of Spaniards across political parties supported recognizing Palestine as a sovereign state. Still, only 35 percent would support it joining the EU. In the face of such opposition, the Spanish government’s move could be a crucial test of its commitment to the two-state solution and its willingness to use its influence in the world arena. The recognition of Palestine is likely to be a significant theme in the 2024 presidential election when Sanchez will seek re-election.
