Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares summoned the Israeli chargé d’affaires in Madrid on Friday over recent comments about Spain made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a deepening rift between the two countries.

The dressing down came after Netanyahu on Thursday accused his Spanish counterpart of issuing a “blatant genocidal threat” against Israel after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez lamented not being able to use nuclear weapons against the Jewish state.

Albares summoned Dana Erlich — currently Israel’s top diplomat in Madrid — to “categorically reject the false and slanderous statements from the Israeli prime minister’s office,” Spain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Israel has since had no ambassador in Madrid, which recalled its own ambassador to Israel on Monday after Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused Spain of waging an “anti-Israel and antisemitic campaign.”

Meanwhile, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said that Netanyahu had no right to lecture anybody on genocide.

“I don’t think Netanyahu is exactly the person entitled to lecture anyone while committing the atrocities he is committing in Gaza,” Robles told Antena 3 television on Friday.

“Spanish PM Sanchez said… that Spain can’t stop Israel’s battle against Hamas terrorists because ‘Spain does not have nuclear weapons,’” noted the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement Thursday. “That’s a blatant genocidal threat on the world’s only Jewish State.”

Netanyahu’s........

© The Times of Israel