Spain’s government has mistaken Israeli restraint for weakness. After years of diplomatic insults, embargoes, canceled defense deals, downgrades, and moral preening, Jerusalem should stop acting as if the old relationship with Madrid still exists. It does not.

If Pedro Sánchez keeps escalating against Israel, Jerusalem should stop whining and start imposing costs: back self-determination for Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia; make clear Ceuta and Melilla are not automatically shielded by NATO’s Article 5; expose whatever can be exposed about Sánchez’s bugged phone after Morocco’s Pegasus-linked espionage; embargo Spain militarily; cut its access to Israeli technology; and build with Spain’s pro-Israel camp instead of wasting time on Sánchez’s anti-Israel machine. It is time to foster, promote, and approve the “Sánchez Act” at the Knesset.

This would not be an attack on Spain’s people, culture, or history. Spain is a serious country with a great civilization and millions of citizens who did not choose to turn their government into a platform for anti-Israel grandstanding. The problem is the regime in Madrid. Sánchez has made hostility to Israel its scapegoat “cutting-edge” foreign policy milestone. Jerusalem can keep absorbing it, or it can begin imposing costs.

The hypocrisy is plain. Sánchez lectures Israel about “colonialism” while Spain still holds two colonial remnants on the........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)