Why doesn't Felipe VI talk about genocide?

MadridThe Moncloa would have preferred Pedro Sánchez to appear before the United Nations General Assembly and, in front of the 193 member countries, establish himself as the pioneer in defense of the Palestinian state, whose recognition has been gaining ground throughout the week. It would have been a foreign policy triumph, but he will have to settle for a small victory from a domestic policy perspective: Felipe VI has not spoken of "genocide", but he has adopted the theses of the Spanish president and has done so with the language of Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

It is not unusual for the king to have defended before the UN the two-state solution that Sánchez promoted in May 2024 and to have focused on questioning Israel's role in the conflict. If it is already common for his speeches to have the approval of the Spanish government, even more so what he said this Wednesday in New York. The Moncloa already assumed that it was not convenient for Felipe VI in person to speak of genocide, a term that causes division with the opposition. "They would accuse us of using the Crown against the PP," government sources assure. In a press conference, Sánchez did not want to go into the difference. "I have enough with being the spokesperson for the Spanish government," he excused himself.

The PP will probably not be able to amend Felipe VI's remarks at the UN regarding the speech on the situation in Gaza. The most relevant term of the speech was massacre, which is exactly the word Feijóo has been using for a week. Furthermore, Felipe VI mentioned "the execrable terrorism of Hamas" and the "brutal massacre" of October 7, 2023, as the PP leader likes to emphasize. However, the message's focus was clearly on Netanyahu.

In Madrid, Feijóo is forced to balance every time Sánchez tries to set the agenda with this folder and accuses him of using it as a smokescreen. To his right, José María Aznar stretches it towards pro-Israeli positions And Isabel Díaz Ayuso is taking photographs with the Israeli cycling team at the Vuelta a España (Vuelta a España). In the Galician Parliament, President Alfonso Rueda used the term "genocide." Significantly, the PP will not issue any official assessments of the monarch's speech, although sources in Genoa consulted by ARA emphasize that "there is more common sense in Zarzuela Palace than in Moncloa Palace," and downplay the idea that Felipe VI's speech will be supervised by the Spanish government.

Avoiding the clash

Would Sánchez have spoken directly about genocide had he taken the podium? To what extent would the Spanish president have been interested in confronting Trump in New York? The Spanish president has made no secret in recent months that his project and that of the US president are at odds, although the Spanish government is trying to cultivate relations with an ally it considers strategic. The head of the state's executive branch already clashed with Trump at the NATO summit in The Hague in June over his refusal to increase the 5% of GDP for defense, which earned him a harsh rebuke from Trump. This time, in his speech on Tuesday, the US president made no reference to Spain. Sánchez is also not interested in giving Trump reasons to use the Rota and Morón bases as trafficking points to transport weapons to Israel, now that the state is seeking a embargo of doubtful application.