Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivered a forceful parliamentary address Wednesday, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to replicate the destruction of Gaza across Lebanon — remarks that place Madrid among the most outspoken Western capitals in its criticism of Israeli military conduct.
Standing before Spain’s lower house, Sanchez warned that Netanyahu’s government aims to inflict "the same level of damage and destruction" on Lebanon as Israeli forces have wrought on the Gaza Strip, where more than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023. A ceasefire brokered by the Trump administration has been in place since October 2025, yet Israel has killed more than 800 Palestinians in near-daily violations of that truce.
Sanchez characterised the broader Middle East war as "absurd, illegal and cruel," arguing it actively undermines global progress on economic, social and environmental goals. He drew a stark historical parallel, warning that a potential US-Israeli war on Iran would represent a scenario "far worse" than the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 — a conflict Sanchez also condemned as unlawful.
His government, he stated plainly, stands firmly opposed to any such military campaign against Tehran.
Sanchez did not spare Iran’s new leadership from criticism. He described Mojtaba Khamenei, who has succeeded his father as Iran’s Supreme Leader, as "an equally dictatorial and even more bloodthirsty tyrant than his father," signalling that Madrid’s opposition to war is rooted in strategic and humanitarian calculation rather than any sympathy for the Iranian government.
The speech comes as Israel moves toward a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, with military planners reportedly preparing to seize and control territory up to 30 kilometres inside the Lebanese border. Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has stated that the military is "following the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoon" — two Gazan cities that were razed entirely during Israeli operations. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went further, openly calling for the formal annexation of southern Lebanon and declaring that a "change of Israel’s borders" is necessary.
Those statements have drawn alarm from Western allies. Canada warned that Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity "must not be violated," while France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot urged Israel to refrain from occupying southern Lebanese territory.
Spain has been among the most consistent European voices in condemning Israeli military operations since the Gaza conflict began. In October, Spain’s parliament approved a permanent ban on the sale of weapons, dual-use technology and military equipment to Israel — a measure that went beyond the temporary arms embargoes adopted by some other European states. Earlier this month, Madrid took the additional step of withdrawing its ambassador to Israel.
The international legal context surrounding Israel’s conduct in Gaza has also intensified. The world’s leading genocide scholars formally declared in September that Israel’s war on Gaza meets the legal definition of genocide. A separate United Nations inquiry reached the same conclusion, finding that Israeli military operations in Gaza amount to genocide under international law.
Sanchez’s address underscores a growing divergence within Europe over how to respond to Israeli military actions that have expanded from Gaza into Lebanon and now threaten to draw in Iran. While many European governments have maintained cautious diplomatic language, Spain has repeatedly chosen direct condemnation — a posture that Wednesday’s parliamentary speech reinforced with unusual bluntness.
The Prime Minister’s warning that the region risks sliding into a conflict dwarfing the catastrophic consequences of the Iraq War reflects mounting anxiety among some Western leaders that escalation dynamics in the Middle East are moving faster than diplomatic efforts to contain them.
