The internal rebellion drives Vox's anti-Zionists

BarcelonaSantiago Abascal's defense of Benjamin Netanyahu's government is unquestionable, to the point that the Prime Minister of Israel has received a delegation from Vox to personally thank them for their support. The Spanish far-right makes a banner of its Islamophobia and has not hesitated to take sides in the conflict in Palestine. But there is a group of critics within Vox who, also on this issue, disagree with the leadership. These are precisely some of those who have recently been expelled from the party and others who left months ago. The dissenting nucleus in Madrid, led by Javier Ortega Smith, is targeting Israel and the "Zionist lobby." In addition to Ortega, Madrid councilwoman Carla Toscano, former leaders such as former Castilian-Leonese vice-president Juan García-Gallardo, former candidate for Pontevedra Antonio Budiño, former Catalan deputy Isabel Lázaro, and former congressman Víctor Sánchez del Real, are some of the visible faces.

This past weekend, Toscano has reiterated this by echoing an Agence France-Presse report that recounts a reality in the West Bank, where the streets of the "completely Christian" town of Taybeh are left "empty" because "Israeli settlers terrorize them almost every day and most of its 1,200 inhabitants only think about leaving." Thus, Toscano stated on X: "As Catholics, we cannot fail to condemn this incessant harassment by the State of Israel suffered by our brothers." It was not a spontaneous and solitary tweet, as the Vox municipal group in the Madrid City Council, controlled by Ortega Smith, republished it on its official profile.

Curiously, García-Gallardo, who has shown solidarity with the purged, reacted to the same news forcefully: "Abascal will say nothing about this, of course. He is very busy saving Spain and the West with weighty measures, approved with the PP, such as banning the burqa in municipal facilities in cities where it is practically impossible to see one, like Burgos," the same day. The fact is that the Castilian-Leonese received support from Budiño and Lázaro, while Toscano also received it from former deputy and Vox "member number 7" Víctor González and from some local official such as David Sierra, councilor of Gallegos de Altamiros.

On January 13, when Israeli tanks fired shells at the Spanish army in Lebanon – without causing injuries – several voices, such as García-Gallardo himself, called on Abascal to condemn "the excesses of Netanyahu's government." Sánchez del Real also raised his tone, saying that the Israeli authorities "must provide immediate explanations with judicial responsibility" and that "in the past it already cost Spanish lives." And amidst the clamor for Vox to comment, Ortega Smith also wanted to get involved by giving his "support to the Spanish soldiers deployed in Lebanon who, thank God, were not injured."

These are not isolated incidents, but a structural struggle against Abascal's alliance with Israel. Sources from Vox lament the string of criticisms from Ortega Smith and also those being voiced by former spokesperson Iván Espinosa de los Monteros. At the fringes of the far-right, a movement with its eyes on international policy is consolidating, which has set off alarms for the pro-Israel lobby and its entities like ACOM, from which Vox MEP Juan Carlos Girauta had received payment, as he has admitted.

Precisely ACOM has reactedrecently, rejoicing that some of the critics, like Toscano, have been expelled from the party: "The bullet that Vox will dodge by getting rid of this filo-Nazi," it said. And she retorted this weekend by saying that "the targeting of the Zionist lobby (and its agents who call themselves Spanish) is a medal" for her because they criticize her "for defending truth and Christians."

Contradictions?

"The fight against Islamism" and the defense of "Western values" have united Vox and Netanyahu in recent years, and Buxadé himself stated in ARA nearly two years ago that "Israel has a real enemy, the radical Islamist organization Hamas": "We agree that terrorism and Islamism are dangerous for European societies." Vox has built good relationships with the Jewish community, and in 2022, the Secretary General of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, Maxo Benalal, even joined the party.

The past September, Toscano, on the other hand, condemned "the massacre" in Gaza, distancing herself from the party's line. But if you look back, some contradictions emerge. In 2023, for example, she had defended the granting of the gold medal of Madrid to Israel, reiterating that "terrorist attacks by Hamas or any other terrorist group against Israel must be unconditionally condemned" and added that "radical Islamism continues to be a threat to the security of all of the West."

Ortega Smith also has seemingly contradictory messages, because in October 2023 he expressed support for Israel, saying that "the legitimate right to defense allows them to do everything in their power to end terrorist organizations," and compared the left's position to "equidistance" in the face of ETA. García-Gallardo even appealed to ACOM to attack the left and denounce its supposed "anti-Semitism." Now, however, he attacks them because they have "abused the bullet of victimhood" and "half the world sees through them."