Atoning for the Past, Sanctioning Today? The Double Standard of Nations Toward Israel

European Ambivalence: As Calls for Sanctions Against Israel Multiply

On Sunday, May 25, 2025, Spain hosted a high-level meeting in Madrid, gathering representatives from over twenty European and Arab nations to call for sanctions against Israel in response to the tragic events in Gaza.

What emerged was a striking display of European ambivalence. In the face of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, some nations appear willing to abandon historical memory when it clashes with present-day political agendas. This position raises serious concerns and highlights a troubling historical dissonance.

Spain, a country that has spent decades seeking reconciliation with the Jewish people, now finds itself at the forefront of a harsh diplomatic stance against the world’s only Jewish state.

It was not long ago, in 2015, that the Spanish government passed an unprecedented law granting citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled in 1492, a powerful symbolic gesture aimed at addressing centuries of exclusion and persecution, notably during the Inquisition. Even earlier, in 1992, King Juan Carlos I publicly expressed sincere regret for the expulsion of Spain’s Jewish community, calling it a historical mistake.

Since then, Spain has invested in cultural, educational, and political efforts to preserve and reintegrate Sephardic memory into its national narrative.

Yet today, these gestures of reconciliation stand in stark contrast to the country’s growing diplomatic hostility toward Israel.

In a democratic society, it is legitimate to critique the actions of a government during wartime. However, when such criticism escalates into coordinated calls for unilateral sanctions, particularly alongside nations that do not even recognize Israel’s right to exist, moral consistency becomes increasingly blurred.

This Spanish paradox is not isolated to Madrid. It echoes across Europe, where several capitals have adopted increasingly critical, even accusatory, postures toward Israel, while simultaneously proclaiming their commitment to Holocaust remembrance and the fight against antisemitism.

Europe funds educational programs on Jewish history, hosts Holocaust memorials, and speaks out against antisemitic hate. Yet, when it comes to modern-day Israel, that moral clarity seems to falter. The double standard is becoming harder to ignore: honoring the Jewish dead of yesterday, while condemning the Jewish state of today without nuance.

This raises a vital question: Can Europe truly claim to atone for its history of Jewish persecution while pursuing a foreign policy that contributes to Israel’s growing isolation? Criticism may be valid, but consistency is equally vital. History may not protect us from contradictions, but it demands clarity and courage.

The memory of the Jewish expulsion from Spain, and more broadly, the Jewish legacy across Europe, deserves more than symbolic gestures. It demands policies that do not undermine the very people those gestures seek to honor.