Israel said on Saturday it had reprimanded Spain’s most senior diplomat in Tel Aviv over the blowing up of a giant effigy of ​Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Spanish town last week.

Ties between Jerusalem and Madrid have steadily deteriorated over the past several years as Spain’s government expressed increasing anger against Israel over the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, with ties further collapsing during the war with Iran.

The 23-foot ‌figure of Netanyahu was packed with 14 kilograms (31 pounds) of gunpowder in El Burgo, a small town near the southern city of Malaga, its Mayor ​Maria Dolores Narvaez told local television.

The decades-old ceremony took place on Easter Sunday and is often referred to as the “Burning of Judas.”

“The appalling antisemitic hatred on display here ​is a direct result of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s ⁠government’s systemic incitement,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X that ​highlighted a video clip apparently showing the crowd cheering as the effigy was ignited.

A Spanish Foreign Ministry source ​said in response that “the Spanish ​government is committed to fighting against antisemitism and any form of hate or discrimination. As such we totally reject any insidious........

© The Times of Israel