Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, is reportedly facing significant criticism from both Israel and within Spain concerning alleged remarks about using nuclear weapons against the Jewish state.

Sanchez stated in a speech last week that “Spain, as you know, doesn’t have nuclear bombs, aircraft carriers, or large oil reserves,” adding, “We alone can’t stop the Israeli offensive. But that doesn’t mean we won’t stop trying. Because there are causes worth fighting for, even if winning them isn’t in our sole power.”

In response, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused his Spanish counterpart of issuing a “blatant genocidal threat to the world’s only Jewish state. Apparently, the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews of Spain and the systematic mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust, is not enough for Sanchez.”

Reports indicated that Spain summoned Israel’s top diplomat in the country to “categorically reject the false and slanderous statements from the Israeli prime minister’s office.”

Juan Caldes, the European advocacy coordinator at the European Jewish Association, conveyed to the news outlet that, “It is beyond hypocritical and cynical to call Israel a genocidal state when one mentions how unfortunate the fact that Spain doesn’t have nuclear weapons to stop Israel. That is the definition of a genocide, when there is a deliberate intent to destroy a specific group (be it ethnic, religious or racial).”

Caldes, who is Spanish, asserted that Sanchez’s comments were intended to “avoid talking about his own issues that surround some of his family members and also many of the corruption scandals involving many of his colleagues from the Socialist Party.”

He further claimed that “Sanchez’s coalition (of socialists and communists) have been expressing very antisemitic views since Oct. 7th.” Caldes cited Yolanda Diaz, Spain’s vice president, who in a televised speech last year, declared, “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free … In other words, from the Jordan River until the Mediterranean state a one-state solution erasing all Jews from the land.”

According to Caldes, “Sanchez’s rhetoric and actions show how embedded antisemitism is part of the Spanish government. That being said, it is still important not to conflate it with the majority of the Spanish people who do not hold antisemitic views.”

Santiago Abascal, a political leader, commented, “Sanchez would like to have nuclear weapons … but not to defend Spain. To defend Hamas.”

Statistics from The Jewish Agency for Israel in September indicated that the Spanish Jewish community comprised 12,900 individuals out of a total population of just over 49 million.

Last year, Spain recorded “the largest increase in modern history in antisemitic speech, incidents, and attacks, up 321% compared to 2023 and 567% compared to 2022,” according to a report published by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain.

The news outlet reached out to Spain’s embassy in Washington and its foreign ministry for comment.