Soeren Kern documents Spain’s long-running pattern of hostility to the Jewish state, including monetary assistance to the boycott, divest, and sanction movement (BDS):
[The current] center-right government continues to pursue policies, [inherited from its socialist predecessor], that are antagonistic toward Israel . . . [and] that largely coincide with the objectives of the BDS movement in Spain and elsewhere.
In March 2013, for example, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo announced a plan to open a Spanish consulate in Gaza, [thus granting diplomatic recognition to] Hamas. He backtracked after learning that the EU classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization. . . .
In August 2014, the Spanish government announced an arms embargo against Israel aimed at forcing the Jewish state to halt its military operations against Hamas. . . . In November 2014, García-Margallo praised the Spanish parliament for voting overwhelmingly to recognize “Palestine” as a state. . . .
Between 2009 and 2011, the Zapatero government funneled more than €15 million ($20 million) of Spanish taxpayer funds to Palestinian and Spanish non-governmental organizations that are among the leaders in ideological campaigns aimed at delegitimizing Israel via BDS, lawfare, and other forms of demonization. . . .
[For instance, an] exhibition, organized by the Autonomous University of Madrid [and partially funded by the Spanish Foreign Ministry], displayed a map of Israel covered with a swastika, as well as a picture of the late Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who was falsely quoted as saying, “I don’t recognize any international laws. I swear I will burn every Palestinian child that is born in this zone.”
Read more on Gatestone: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6374/spain-bds