Spanish minister orders companies to ensure activities in Israel do not contribute to genocide

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain’s social rights minister sent out letters to Spanish companies linked to Israel on Wednesday, ordering them to take measures to ensure their activities do not contribute to genocide or human rights abuses in Palestine.

“No economic actor should contribute to the violation of the Palestinian population’s human rights,” Pablo Bustinduy said in a post on X.

In the letter, Bustinduy reminded Spanish businesses about the International Court of Justice resolution ordering measures to protect Gaza’s population from genocide.

Since he is also responsible for consumer rights, he ordered Spanish companies to take three steps to reevaluate their operations and increase transparency around their activities in Israel.

First, he said businesses must inform the government about the risks of human rights abuses that their “activities or business relations” could be linked to in Palestine, whether in Gaza or the West Bank.

Second, the minister ordered companies to provide information related to the measures they are taking to prevent any harmful consequences of their economic activity on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Pointing to European law, he said companies must “guarantee that consumers have access to information that allows them to enjoy goods and services that fully respect human rights.”

Finally, he ordered Spanish companies to inform the government about “mechanisms” they have put in place to ensure “consumers have full knowledge of these actions” related to their activities related to human rights in Israel.

Sources from Spain’s foreign and economics ministries told Spanish daily El Diario that they were unaware of the minister’s letter.

“Our position is clear about Gaza, Palestine and statehood … but it’s also clear that our position is that the state of Israel and the Israeli people are friends of Spain,” an unnamed Foreign Ministry source said.

Spain and Ireland had previously sent a letter to the European Union, urging the bloc to reconsider its relationship with Israel based on potential human rights abuses.

Diplomatic spats between Madrid and Tel Aviv also occurred when Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez suggested Israel was violating international law with its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Youth Minister Sira Rego on Tuesday used the term genocide when saying that Spain should impose sanctions on the Israeli administration after it began its invasion of Rafah.

The Israeli Embassy in Madrid issued on Wednesday a statement saying it “totally rejects” the “false accusation diffused by some ministers, intellectuals and media outlets that Israel is committing genocide.”

“These unsupported accusations give wings to Hamas … and are a clear incitement to hatred, feeding antisemitism,” the embassy said.