Spain will ban far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Tuesday, marking a new low in relations between the two countries.
A day earlier, Madrid pulled its envoy from Tel Aviv after Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that Israel would impose sanctions on two Spanish ministers and accused Spain’s government of advancing antisemitic policies.
Ben Gvir and Smotrich would be sanctioned and “not be able to enter Spanish territory,” Albares told a press conference.
Five weeks ago, the Netherlands made a similar decision about banning Ben Gvir, who leads the Otzma Yehudit party, and Smotrich, the chair of Religious Zionism.
Slovenia and Belgium have also banned the two ministers, with Belgium reportedly working to extend the ban across all 29 European states that are members of the Schengen Agreement.
Ben Gvir responded to the decision with a post on X in Spanish, writing, “Don’t let me in… but give the people from Gaza free entry into Spain.”
Spain in July allowed 16 Gazans to come to the country for medical treatment.
Tuesday’s decision was the latest in an angry back-and-forth between Jerusalem and Madrid, which began when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday unveiled several new measures, including an arms embargo and partial trade ban, that the country would take against Israel to “stop the genocide in Gaza, pursue its perpetrators, and support the Palestinian population.”
Aside from an embargo on defense trade with Israel, Sanchez said Spain would bar entry of those participating in what he called a “genocide” against Palestinians, prohibit Israel-bound ships and aircraft carrying weapons from docking at Spain’s ports or entering its airspace, and ban the import of goods from West Bank settlements.
The wide-ranging measures were condemned by Sa’ar, who said in response that Israel would impose sanctions on two Spanish ministers, over Madrid’s “hostile anti-Israel line, marked by wild, hate-filled rhetoric.”
He further accused Sanchez’s administration of trying to “divert attention from grave corruption scandals” with its anti-Israel stance.
In response to Sa’ar, Spain’s Foreign Ministry said it was recalling its ambassador from Tel Aviv for consultations.
The ties between Jerusalem and Madrid have steadily deteriorated, with Spain’s government expressing increasing anger with Israel over the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, which killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
Spain’s government has prohibited trade of military equipment with Israel since the start of the war. However, the measures announced Monday would enshrine the prohibition in law.
Sanchez, an outspoken critic of Israel, is the most senior European leader to have called the fighting in Gaza a “genocide.” His left-wing government broke with European allies last year by recognizing a Palestinian state, a move that infuriated Israel.
Several European countries, including France and the UK, have since announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state next month.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 64,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
In a further step aimed at creating distance from Israel, Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun suggested on Tuesday that Spain should withdraw from the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is allowed to participate.
In an interview with Spanish television channel La hora de La 1, Urtasun said Spain could not “normalize Israel’s participation in international events as if nothing is happening.”
“Events like Eurovision or the Vuelta a España brings certain representation of a country,” he said, referring to the three-week Grand Tour Race in Spain that has been repeatedly disrupted by pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters, prompting calls for the Israeli team to withdraw.
“In Eurovision’s case, it is not an individual artist who participates but someone who participates on behalf of that country’s citizens,” added Urtasun.
Spain has been pushing to boot Israel from future Eurovision contests since the 2025 contest in Switzerland. In its wake, Sanchez said that as Russia was no longer allowed to participate due to its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Israel should also be barred “because what we cannot allow is double standards in culture.”
Despite the Spanish premier’s argument, the country’s televoters gave Israel the maximum of 12 points during the 2025 contest.
Sam Sokol contributed to this report.