cryptoflovecraft — 2 weeks ago(March 13, 2026 03:41 PM)

Viva España! Viva Franco!
Reactionaries celebrate Francisco Franco's authoritarianism but ignore his unheralded pro-Arab orientation
Jose Alberto Nino • March 11, 2026
"This is not self-defence…it is the extermination of a defenceless people."
With those words on September 8, 2025, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez became one of the most senior European leaders to formally accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. He announced a sweeping package of nine measures including a total arms embargo formalizing restrictions in place since October 2023, a ban on ships carrying fuel for Israel’s military from docking at Spanish ports, closure of Spanish airspace to aircraft transporting defense material to Israel, and an entry ban on individuals “directly involved in genocide, human rights violations, and war crimes,” potentially including Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government.
Spain’s parliament formally ratified the arms embargo into law by a vote of 178 to 169 on October 8, 2025. Madrid canceled a €285 million contract with Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael for SPIKE LR2 anti-tank missile launchers in June 2025. When Israel’s foreign minister accused Sanchez of antisemitism, Spain recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv for consultations.
Sanchez even called for Israel’s exclusion from international sporting events, asking “Why was Russia expelled after invading Ukraine, yet Israel faces no expulsion after invading Gaza?” He expressed “deep admiration” for the massive pro-Palestinian protests that forced organizers to cut short the final stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race, praising “a Spanish society that mobilizes against injustice and defends its ideas peacefully.”
To observers unfamiliar with Spanish history, Sanchez’s actions might appear as the idiosyncratic politics of a progressive government. They are not. The Spanish prime minister acts within a deep-rooted civilizational and political trajectory spanning centuries, which reached its most impactful modern expression through an unlikely individual.
That individual was none other than Francisco Franco himself. Whatever one thinks of the Spanish leader, he maintained an unwavering refusal to recognize the Zionist entity throughout his entire rule, a stance so firm that Spain would not establish relations with Israel until 1986, more than a decade after Franco’s death.
Franco’s government rejected the State of Israel from its creation in 1948. In 1949, shortly after Israel’s founding, Franco reportedly offered to establish diplomatic relations with the new state, but Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion rejected the overture because of Spain’s close wartime ties with National Socialist Germany, according to the Center for Israel Education. Israel then voted against lifting UN sanctions on Spain in the United Nations General Assembly due to the Francoist regime’s sympathy and material support for the Axis Powers, according to Jewish Currents. This rebuff pushed Franco to align definitively with the Arab bloc.
Franco did far more than merely withhold recognition. The Franco government cultivated strong ties with Arab nations including Egypt, Iraq, and Libya as part of its strategy to break Spain’s postwar international isolation, according to the Palestine Land Society’s research. The Palestine Liberation Organization maintained an informal representative office in Madrid since 1972 under the Franco regime.
Spain consistently voted in the PLO’s favor at the United Nations. During the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, Franco took the significant step of preventing the United States from using its military bases on Spanish soil to resupply Israel with armaments. On November 22, 1974, Spain voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolutions 3236 and 3237, which recognized the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and granted the PLO observer status. The first post-Franco government, headed by Adolfo Suárez, declared that it would not recognize Israel unless it withdrew from the West Bank and allowed the creation of a Palestinian state.
Franco’s pro-Arab orientation was driven by pragmatic calculations as much as ideology. After World War II, Franco’s Spain was condemned and excluded from the United Nations due to its association with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Unable to join Western European institutions, Franco pursued what scholars call “substitution policies,” cultivating ties with Latin America and the Arab world to escape diplomatic isolation.
He built close relationships with monarchies in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, and Morocco. Appealing to historical, cultural, and political ties, Franco endeavored to act as a self-appointed protector of Arab interests and to portray Spain as an essential bridge between Europe and the Arab countries. After Spain gained UN membership in 1955 with Cold War dynamics shifting in its favor, Madrid continued to reject several Israeli offers to establish diplomatic relations a