Israel summons Spain's chargé d'affaires over minister's 'river to the sea' remark

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the most senior Spanish diplomat in the country for a formal reprimand on Monday, 28 September 2026, according to a press release issued by the Israeli government. The diplomat, Francisca Pedrós, serves as chargé d'affaires of the Spanish Embassy in Israel. She was received at the ministry by Gilad Cohen, who heads its Political Strategic Affairs Directorate, on the instruction of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

The ministry said the summons was a response to comments by Sira Rego, Spain's Minister for Youth. According to the Israeli statement, Rego said that the Spanish public backs a Palestinian state "from the river to the sea". The ministry described that phrase as a call for Israel's erasure and presented the remarks as one example of what it called a systematic policy against Israel under Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

What a summons for reprimand means

Calling in a foreign diplomat for a reprimand is one of the standard tools governments use to register a formal protest with another state. It is a diplomatic signal rather than a legal sanction: the envoy is asked to attend the host country's foreign ministry, where officials convey the government's objection, which the diplomat is then expected to relay to their own capital.

A chargé d'affaires is the diplomat in charge of an embassy when there is no ambassador heading it, or when the ambassador is absent. The Israeli release does not explain why Spain's embassy is currently led at that level, and it does not say whether an ambassador is in post.

The official who conducted the meeting, Gilad Cohen, leads the ministry's Political Strategic Affairs Directorate, a senior division within the Foreign Ministry. That the instruction came from Sa'ar himself indicates the protest was authorised at ministerial level.

The phrase at the centre of the dispute

The words "from the river to the sea" refer to the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an area that includes Israel. In its statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the slogan amounts to a vision in which the State of Israel would be eliminated, and it read Rego's use of it as support for that outcome.

The release quotes only that phrase from the Spanish minister. It does not give her full remarks, the setting in which she spoke, or the date on which she made them, and it does not include any response from Rego or from the Spanish government.

Earlier friction involving Rego

The ministry's statement also recalled Rego's past record, saying she had declined to condemn the October 7 massacre carried out by Hamas and that Israel had barred her from entering the country in September 2025. The release does not describe the circumstances of that entry ban beyond noting that it took place.

The wider row with Madrid

The Israeli government framed the episode as part of a broader pattern in Spain's foreign policy rather than as an isolated comment. The statement accused Prime Minister Sánchez of attacking Israel for defending itself against both Iran and Hamas, and it said Spain's government had abandoned its moral bearings.

In some of the strongest language in the release, the ministry said Spain had made Israel a target of its foreign policy, likening the country to a punching bag, and was taking an active part in a campaign against Israel's existence. It said Madrid should instead be aligned with the fight against terrorism and threats to Israeli security.

These characterisations are the Israeli government's own. The release presents Israel's position and does not set out Spain's policies in detail or cite specific Spanish decisions beyond the minister's remark and the prime minister's criticism of Israel.

What the reports do not say

This account rests on a single source, the Israeli government's own press release, and several questions remain open:

• The full wording and context of Sira Rego's remarks, including where and when she spoke.
• Whether Francisca Pedrós or the Spanish government responded during or after the meeting, and what they said.
• What specifically was conveyed to the Spanish diplomat, beyond the positions stated publicly in the release.
• Whether Israel intends any further diplomatic step, which the statement does not mention.
• Why Spain's embassy is represented by a chargé d'affaires rather than an ambassador.

No independent or Spanish account of the meeting was available in the material reviewed for this report.