EU 'hypocritical' in sanctioning Iran over attacks against Israel: Spanish politician

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The EU is "hypocritical" in sanctioning Iran over attacks against Israel while failing to do the same against the Israeli premier for killing "more than 30,000 innocent" Palestinians, head of the Spain's left-wing Podemos party said on Thursday.

Criticizing the EU decision to impose sanctions on Iran following retaliation against Israel, Ione Belarra said: "The same council has been unable to impose any sanctions against Netanyahu, even after more than 30,000 innocent victims."

Condemning Iran's attacks against Israel, EU leaders announced that the bloc will be adopting new sanctions against Iran.

"This is how Europe is killing, through hypocrisy," added Belarra on X.

Tehran carried out an overnight attack on Israel on Saturday in response to an April 1 strike on its consulate in Syria that killed seven Iranian military officers, including two top-ranking Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders for Syria and Lebanon.

Israel has not formally taken responsibility for the strike but has carried out attacks on Iranian targets across Syria in recent months. The US has denied having any role in it.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which nearly 1,200 people were killed.

Nearly 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 76,800 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.