MADRID (Dispatches) -- Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced that extremist Israeli ministers of finance and security, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, have been added to Spain’s list of sanctioned individuals and will be barred from entering the country.
In the latest escalation of political back and forth between Madrid and Tel Aviv, Albares said the decision was driven by the worsening situation in Gaza, where he warned that “starvation threatens 250,000 people in the besieged strip.”
He described Spain’s actions as a moral duty taken under national and European sovereignty, in line with human rights.
The move follows Israel’s announcement that it would block two Spanish ministers from entering after accusing the government of antisemitic policies. 
Spain’s foreign ministry responded by recalling its ambassador from Tel Aviv for consultations.
One day earlier, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared a total arms embargo on Israel, prohibiting ships and aircraft carrying Israeli weapons from entering Spanish ports or airspace. 
Sanchez publicly used the word genocide to describe Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza for the first time, marking a significant shift in the global discourse and affirming Spain’s break with EU hesitation.
The move to use the word genocide also echoes what was officially declared at the beginning of the month by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS).
The Spanish premier said the measures were meant to increase pressure on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime to alleviate some of the suffering that the Palestinian population is enduring.”
The embargo decree is expected to be ratified by the Spanish Congress. Sanchez also announced increased funding for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), along with a ban on products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law. 
He further said Israelis who took part in the genocide would be banned from entering Spain.
Albares called on EU counterparts to adopt a bloc-wide arms embargo on Israel and to restart negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program. 
The restrictions on Ben Gvir and Smotrich come five weeks after they were banned from entering the Netherlands. 
Slovenia and Belgium have issued similar bans, with Belgium pushing to extend the measure across all 29 Schengen states.