Starmer and Macron follow Sánchez's path
We must recognize the role that Spanish President Pedro Sánchez has played as a leader in diplomatic pressure on Israel to stop the massacres of civilians in Palestine. Just over a year ago, on May 28, 2024, the Council of Ministers approved the recognition of Palestine as a state, a gesture that Spain made in coordination with Norway and Ireland. It was essentially a symbolic statement, which changed nothing on the ground but had political value. So much so that Israel reacted furiously by recalling its ambassador in Madrid and issuing very aggressive statements and declarations against the Spanish government, which it accused of playing into Hamas's hands. This overreaction was intended to intimidate other states from following the same path, but it hasn't worked.
A year later, the path blazed by Sánchez has also been followed by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who have announced that they will recognize Palestine as a state in September, taking advantage of the annual United Nations assembly. Starmer announced this Tuesday, with the nuance that he will withdraw the measure if Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas. Be that as it may, these gestures increasingly isolate Israel diplomatically and add pressure to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has so far resisted going further. In recent days, coinciding with the terrible images of malnourished children in Gaza, we have even heard criticism of Netanyahu from his main ally, US President Donald Trump.
The European Union, for its part, still has a diplomatic weapon at hand that would have a real effect: the cancellation of the association agreement with Israel, which regulates trade relations between the two countries. This is a difficult option because it requires unanimity and would have a significant economic impact. A first step that did seem more feasible in the short term was the cancellation of the Horizon scientific collaboration program, but this Tuesday, too, the necessary majority was not achieved. However, the important thing is that states are seeing that they cannot stand idly by without becoming complicit in the genocide in Gaza. And even if it means dragging their feet, some are beginning to react.
The unknown now is how Israel will react. If it applies the same approach as in Spain, it would have to withdraw its ambassadors from Paris and London, but that would make its isolation even more evident. Let us remember that right now there is no Israeli ambassador in Madrid, and neither in Dublin, in this case because Ireland has joined South Africa's case against Israel in the International Criminal Court. And in the case of Norway, the country that hosts the committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize, Israel has revoked the diplomatic status of eight Norwegian representatives to the Palestinian Authority. In other words, Israel can take diplomatic reprisals, but, as we can see, they are increasingly having less effect.
