The new ambassador of Palestine to Spain debuts in Madrid

MadridFadi Elhusseini (1975, Gaza Strip) debuted this Thursday as the brand new Palestinian ambassador to Spain, in Madrid, in what was his first public act since presenting his credentials to Felipe VI. The playing field was friendly. First, because he was accompanied by the Minister for Children and Youth, Sira Rego (United Left), who has been and is one of the most forceful voices in the Spanish government against the offensive in Gaza, as was evidenced again this Thursday: "The position of Spanish society [on Palestine] is clear [...]. [Benjamin Netanyahu] is a war criminal," the minister stated.

Rego, of Palestinian origin, also looked towards the European Union: "All diplomatic and commercial relations with the government of Israel must be suspended," she said during the presentation of Elhusseini, to whom she gave the floor after calling for a "free Palestine from the river to the sea".

But it was also friendly due to the new destination –the Spanish state–, when compared to the last place where Elhusseini developed his diplomatic career: Hungary. Or at least with the current government of Pedro Sánchez, and even more so if one takes into account Vox's flirtation with former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. He arrived in Hungary in 2020, and among the moments of greatest tension, the official visit of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, in April 2025, and his meeting with the then-Hungarian government of Orbán stand out. In fact, despite the fact that an arrest warrant hangs over Netanyahu that mandates his detention for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, Orbán did not hesitate to grant him all the honors.

"Life in Palestine refuses to surrender," said Elhusseini. The ambassador took advantage of the event to ask the State to continue pressing for Europe to execute sanctions against Israel. "It is the way to save lives," he said. His intervention was marked by a hopeful tone, despite the fact that the conflict in the Gaza Strip has already resulted in 1,400 Palestinian deaths, according to the latest update from the Palestinian authorities, despite the ceasefire agreed upon in October 2025. "We are not only prepared to survive, but to live; to live in freedom, prepared to build our economy, our country, our culture." "We have the capacity to rebuild our country. We do not seek to be dependent on one or another," he proclaimed.