An error with incalculable consequences. This is how the diplomatic world has understood the fact that the Government of Pedro Sánchez has directly pointed out Israel as the author of a " genocide ." An accusation that has come from the mouths of both Sumar and PSOE ministers, and that this week the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares , has tried to minimize, ensuring that these are " personal opinions " that are in no way an official sentiment. Foreign Affairs has asked the ministers, internally, to stop using that term "genocide": it opens the door for Palestinians residing in Gaza, and there are around two million in the entire Strip, to appear at an embassy or Spanish consulate to request asylum. And a ruling from the Supreme Court obliges Foreign Affairs, in those cases, to put the applicant for protection on a plane to Spain.

"What is happening in Gaza is a real genocide." That was what the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles , recently pointed out when she was asked about the crisis between Spain and Israel and the recognition of Palestine. Some statements that provoked a new diplomatic clash with Tel Aviv and that fueled the positions of Sumar's partners, whose ministers had already expressed themselves in those - or worse - terms.

However, just two days later, Foreign Affairs revised the official version of what is happening in Gaza. Albares, after the Council of Ministers and on the same day that Spain officially recognized Palestine , assured that Robles' words reflected a " personal opinion " that was not necessarily shared by the Government. As OKDIARIO has learned, this public statement had been preceded by a private warning to the ministers so that they should not use the term genocide so lightly . Not out of respect for Israel, since this is a very serious accusation, but because of the legal consequences that this qualification may have for Spain.