With the investiture pact stuck - see the article by the director of La Vanguardia, Jordi Juan, published yesterday -, the PSOE is keeping a close eye on its left flank. He does not want the Gaza crisis to open a gap in his electorate, since Spain is one of the Western countries where there is a greater sympathy for the Palestinian cause. 31% of the Spanish population sympathizes with the Palestinians, compared to 12% who advocate for Israel, according to a study by the global data company You Gov.
In Spain there is more sympathy for the desperate inhabitants of Gaza, today subjected to a brutal siege, than for the harshness of the current Israeli leaders after the atrocious crimes committed by Hamas ten days ago. The terrorism of Hamas is in the background in many minds following events such as yesterday's massacre in a hospital in Gaza. In social networks, nerves are on edge. The Socialist Party knows this and takes care of its perimeter, in case it is necessary to vote again on January 14.
The acting president, Pedro Sánchez, knows this, and that is why he constantly modulates his messages. On October 7, Sánchez did not hesitate to describe the attack by Hamas against hundreds of Israeli civilians and other nationalities as a "terrorist act", in perfect harmony with the other European governments. Ten days later he did not hesitate to attack the Israeli embassy in Spain after it issued a harsh statement the day before yesterday in which it accused "some elements of the Spanish Government" (in allusion to Minister Ione Belarra , general secretary of Podemos) of being aligned with "ISIS-style terrorism" (Islamic State). Belarra had proposed to the PSOE to denounce Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the International Court of Justice in The Hague for war crimes.
The Israeli embassy in Madrid protested verbally to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday morning, and in the afternoon, without warning, issued a statement accusing Spanish ministers of complicity with terrorism. Sánchez understood that the Central Government could not remain silent in the face of an accusation of this magnitude and instructed Foreign Affairs to issue a response. Before publishing the note, Minister José Manuel Albares contacted the Israeli ambassador, Rodica Radian-Gordon, with whom he had interviewed the previous week. The reply note substantively says the following: "The Government of Spain categorically rejects the falsehoods expressed in the statement of the Israeli embassy about some of its members and does not accept unfounded insinuations about them". Interviewed by La Vanguardia on Sunday, Albares had stressed that the only authorized voices of the Spanish Government in foreign policy are that of the President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The central government yesterday declared the clash over.
Belarra's words also have context. Podemos fears being left out of the Spanish Government if the PSOE manages to close an investiture pact. They believe that Sánchez has already made a decision on this matter, with the approval of Yolanda Díaz, head of the ranks of Sumar. Podemos claims the continuity of Irene Montero at the head of Igulatt and struggles to maintain its own profile within Sumar, where it has five deputies out of a total of 31. Podemos knows how to speak loudly and also how to lower his voice. When the NATO general assembly was held in Madrid (July 2022), he lowered his voice. Now speak loudly.
The Popular Party also speaks loudly, very loudly, because it smells new elections. The PP does not want anything else since its ruling group began to recover from the July 23 shock. Vote again as soon as possible to be able to correct the errors that Narciso Michavila's polls failed to detect. To overwhelm Vox on the issue of the unity of Spain and present the PSOE as a danger to the continuity of the nation.
With these keys it is necessary to read the recent statements of Alberto Núñez Feijóo in which he warned of a horizon "similar to that of the Balkans" as a result of Sánchez's negotiations with the pro-independence parties. Aznarism 100% cocoa. old words José María Aznar in statements to the Argentine newspaper La Nación in 2007: "Spain is balancing the abyss, as happened in Yugoslavia". During those years, the processing of the new Statute of Catalonia was torpedoed by continuous references to the Balkan drama. Between 130,000 and 200,000 people died in the Balkan wars (1991-2001), with millions of civilians displaced from their homes. The former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ended up being divided into seven independent states.
At the beginning of September, Esteban González Pons, one of Núñez Feijóo's trusted men, wanted to open negotiations with Junts. "It is a party whose tradition and legality are not in doubt", he said. At the end of October, Feijóo talks about "Balkan horizons".
The investiture pact is stuck and only forty days remain. Felipe González returned to the attack yesterday to intercept José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (see the box), and the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, will go to the Senate tomorrow to defend the amnesty in a debate facilitated by the Popular Party, which loosely controls the Upper House. Coffee days are coming.
