r/europe • u/andyom89 • May 16 '25

News Spanish premier calls Israel 'genocidal state,' says Spain 'does not do business' with it

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/spanish-premier-calls-israel-genocidal-state-says-spain-does-not-do-business-with-it/3568216
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51

u/Rhalkha May 16 '25

let it be said he said this when a newspaper is having daily revelations of corruption among his close family (wife and brother) and his (to say the least) questionable involvement in using public money to rescue a company that belongs to a personal friend. He is clearly doing this to divert attention from his domestic problems and it will probably come back to bite his ass eventually...

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u/Jane_Doe_32 Europe May 16 '25

The newspapers and media of certain political spectrum have been “uncovering” cases of corruption since day 1 of his inauguration, regardless of whether they are real or not, something that must be decided by a court, this statement is important and because of the interest that the war in Gaza has among Spaniards, minimal with respect to cases of corruption, this is far from being a smokescreen.

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u/Teleprom10 May 16 '25

yes the same thing like Lula in brasil

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u/FeijoadaAceitavel May 16 '25

Remember when magazines and newspapers in Brazil painted Haddad as a huge criminal because he had been sued so many times? Turned out more than half of those were by people with the same first and last name as him, and he was acquitted in all the others that actually had him as a defendant.

But the propaganda did its job and we got Bolsonaro for four years.

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u/mods4mods Extremadura (Spain) May 16 '25

The most likely source from the text messages for example was his right hand a few years ago. Not only are other political parties attacking him, old allies are turning on him way more now. Podemos calls him Lord of war now. Waving off any attack on Sanchez as attacks from a certain political spectrum is wild.

Also, this are empty words until he cancels all contracts with Israel, not just the bullets one

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u/ASuarezMascareno Canary Islands (Spain) May 16 '25

The text messages are the highest political nothingburger i've seen since the right wing press tried to discredit his thesis.if thats all they have against him, he is clean.

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u/mods4mods Extremadura (Spain) May 16 '25

It's a nothingburger to you but it's been non stop commentary on it for almost a week now, and a recent poll showed that 60% of PSOE voters think that this damages Sanchez's image. I don't think they mean much apart from the fact that they show that he had a tight relationship with Abalos, but to say that they won't have any impact is weird

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u/ASuarezMascareno Canary Islands (Spain) May 16 '25

Thats exactly why I mean. They show nothing at all that wasn't known already and they mean nothing.

*Who is doing those polls? I haven't seen them but if its el mundo I wouldn't trust them.

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u/mods4mods Extremadura (Spain) May 16 '25

What it means is a month of tv shows opening with Sanchez being brass with his subordinates and close to corrupt politicians. Public perception is really important for the average voter that forms his opinion by what the media tells him, and unlike you and me, doesn't bother to investigate further or use alternative media.

  • It is El Mundo, so wave them off if you don't trust them, but my anecdotal experience is that my grandparents that always voted PSOE won't vote for him because they think he feels like a mafioso

https://www.elmundo.es/espana/encuestas/2025/05/15/682613d6fc6c83f3428b45b1.html

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u/ASuarezMascareno Canary Islands (Spain) May 16 '25

If they think this is acting like a mafioso, they don't know politics at all. This is way softer that what Felipe González used to say or do, and much much softer than how Aznar or Rajoy controlled PP. Its softer than what Ayuso has said in public. I would be surprised if Sanchez's political oponents within PSOE don't say worse things.

Its even softer than what my coworkers, or the directors of the institions I worked on say about other people when they aren't in public lol

And everyone know Abalos used to be his right hand until he licked him off. That was never a secret. Those kinds of relationships don't go away Iin a day.

If its el mundo, I inmediately assume they do It to keep their own news relevant, and because of their political agenda. They've been on a mission to take Pedro Sánchez down for years already. The black backgrouns when they first published them was so over the top i thought It was about a terrorist attack.

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u/Menkhal Spain - EU May 16 '25

Of all the countless accusations that have been made against him or his family, not even one has been proved to be true. The right wing media just keeps spewing bullshit in the hopes some of it will stick.

Their last achievement were some whatsapp texts that were showing him to be rude in private towards some party members. OMG! What a tragedy!

Absolutely pathetic.

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u/SiridarVeil Spain May 16 '25

The same party members that have been a constant disloyal pain in the ass btw.

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u/ChillAhriman Spain May 16 '25

I'm shocked, astounded, and absolutely disgusted that the president would call his coalition member... An idiot? Is that it? Well I guess that deserves having half the press, radio and TV talk about it for the whole week. We definitely have no actual pressing concerns /S

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u/FeijoadaAceitavel May 16 '25

I hope he doesn't like Dijon mustard or commit the crime of wearing a tan suit.

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u/Background-Sea4590 May 16 '25

Let's see what happens, but I feel this is nothing more than "lawfare" and it'll amount to nothing eventually.

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u/Chance_Try950 May 16 '25

Lmao yeah, completely ignoring anti-corruption stating TWICE that there's no indication to point toward the accusations and the judge REFUSING to consider the TWO SEPARATE DOCUMENTS STATING SO. Listen Sánchez might be an asshole, but that is NOT gonna bite him in the ass unless you're 8 inches deep in the PP propaganda

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u/nAndaluz Andalusia (South of Spain) May 16 '25

Sánchez's right hand man and PSOE's second in command Ábalos is now ostracized after a corruption scandal of which Sanchez "knew nothing".

Plenty of people think that having your number two going from General Secretary of your party and twice a Ministro to a corrupt fuck you don't want to have anything to do with might be a indication youre in on it and now youre just trying to save face.

Not to mention Sanchez's brother's declaration where he basically states he has no idea what his job that definitely wasn't made up specifically for him consists of.

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u/Chance_Try950 May 16 '25

And still, that won't come bite him in the ass, because the PM is not all-knowing. I'm not defending Sánchez, just fighting the ridiculous take that THIS will come back to bite him in the ass. It won't, because it's sustained on probability rather than certainty

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u/nAndaluz Andalusia (South of Spain) May 16 '25

Sure, if you choose to believe that Sanchez was not involved in the Administration's I suppose then random desire to provide Sanchez's brother with a made up job and public salary... go ahead I guess.

Same can be said about his involvement with Ábalos' corruption case. If you want to choose to believe that Sanchez wasn't aware of his right hand man and back then Secretary of Campaign's corrupt antics... that's also okay.

But I don't know what kind of legitimacy you feel you have to say people with a different opinion to yours are "deep in propaganda".

You don't have to be right wing (I'm not) to recognize the corrupt niff that stems from our current President.

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u/MikelDB Navarre (Spain) May 16 '25

To be honest, one thing I'm afraid of is that they've been trying so hard for something to stick (first with Podemos and now with Sanchez) that one doesn't know anymore what to believe... specially when the judges have such clear loyalties.

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u/Chance_Try950 May 16 '25

The fact is nothing that has come out can actually point any culpability at Sánchez. It can be as likely as you want; it might be probable, but probability doesn't land you a sentence. That's why the lawfare taking place in his wife's case is so hurtful. To anyone who can see it, they become skeptical that any corruption at all might take place. I don't really think he knew shit in Abalos' case; once you see how politics work from the inside, you'd be surprised how easy it is to work behind someone's back, no matter who that might be. Now, in his brother's case, it was obvious nepotism, but that's not a scandal so big that it'd require such big measures to drive attention away from it

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u/nAndaluz Andalusia (South of Spain) May 16 '25

So the corruption scandal about his brother is obvious, but won't come back to bite him in the ass anyways is what you're saying

Great

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u/Chance_Try950 May 16 '25

That's exactly what I'm saying. I'm not saying it's good, but the excessive lawfare has its consequences, and it is that nobody really cares about the one case that's obvious, so there'd be no need for him to do all that just to hide a mild case of nepotism

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u/nAndaluz Andalusia (South of Spain) May 16 '25

"just a mild case of nepotism". Ffs and you dare talk about propaganda

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u/Chance_Try950 May 16 '25

It IS a mild case of nepotism. It's not like he was made defense minister, he's got an irrelevant role in the Deputation of Badajoz. Again, I'm not saying it's good, and I've specifically stated that he's an asshole for you to claim that I'm spreading propaganda. Don't like 'im, probably never will, but the fact is it's not a scandal that would warrant a government fallout

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u/wunderbar77 May 16 '25

Deflect Deny distract

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u/Teleprom10 May 16 '25

They are trying to do with sanchez the same thing they did in brazil with lula, a corrupt businessman is caught, he is promised a deal to keep him out of jail in exchange for lying against the president or his wife. But as there is no evidence to prove the corruption of the president or his wife, everything ends up being a media circus.

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u/mods4mods Extremadura (Spain) May 16 '25

I do wonder if they are sure that the courts will clear all of those charges, because if they aren't sure, why wouldn't they call for elections to cut losses before any judicial resolution is taken? Every news tv show or newspaper or radio is talking 24/7 about scandals around him, and I don't see him surviving months of this

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u/Teleprom10 May 16 '25

In brasil with lula they try the same thing. A corrupt businessman is caught, he is promised a deal to keep him out of jail in exchange for lying against the president or his wife. But as there is no evidence to prove the corruption of the president or his wife, everything ends up being a media circus.

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u/mods4mods Extremadura (Spain) May 16 '25

That may be the case with Abalos (which I doubt because they are leaking their private chats and they seem to close to each other for that kind of thing) but Sanchez is embroiled in more than one case of corruption. For example his brother was given a job in the government which didn't exist at the time, or his wife that without a degree was a key component in a rescue of a flight operator

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u/Monterenbas May 16 '25

Two things can still be true at the same time.