Spain's top diplomat dismisses Israeli leader's vow of no Palestinian state, saying it will happen

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Spain’s top diplomat dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that there will never be a Palestinian state, saying Israelis will one day want to live side by side in peace with Palestinians.

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that “a real wave” of countries have recognized the state of Palestine since Spain, Ireland and Norway did in May 2024 and an overwhelming number support a two-state solution to the nearly 80-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The day that everyone will have recognized the state of Palestine, we will have to move forward,” he said at the United Nations. “I’m sure that we will find someday the right people for peace on the Israel side, in the same way that we have found it in the Palestinian side" in the Palestinian Authority.

Spain has been in the forefront in pressuring Israel to end the war in Gaza sparked by Hamas’ surprise invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, criticizing “the atrocities” and “endless killing” it is committing in the territory.

Albares spoke before a U.N. General Assembly meeting at its annual gathering of world leaders. At the meeting, the Palestinians expected 10 recent and new countries to formally recognize the state of Palestine, adding to the list of more than 145 nations that already have. France, Luxembourg, Belgium and others did so at the meeting, even after Netanyahu reiterated his vow that there will never be a Palestinian state. Weekend recognitions came from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The Spanish minister called Hamas “a terrorist organization” that doesn’t want a two-state solution. “So let’s put aside the extremists, and let’s look for the people that want a peaceful and secure coexistence."

Albares said Spain has staked out one of the strongest positions against Israel’s actions in Gaza because “we cannot accept that the natural way for the people in the Middle East to relate is through war, through violence.”

Israel has the right to peace, stability, security and a state and so do the Palestinians, he said. “I don’t see why they should be condemned to be eternally a people of refugees."

Albares said that it was impossible for Spain, as a democratic country that believes in human rights, to have a “normal relation with Israel” while "this endless war continues.”

In recent weeks, Spain ratcheted up its opposition to Israel's actions in Gaza. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the war a “genocide” earlier this month when he announced plans to formalize an arms embargo and block Israel-bound fuel deliveries from passing through Spanish ports. Netanyahu accused Sánchez of a “blatant genocidal threat.”

The following week, pro-Palestine protesters for whom the government expressed its support disrupted the final leg of an international cycling competition in Madrid due to the presence of a team with ties to Israel.

In the incident's aftermath, Sánchez called for Israel to be banned from all international sporting events while the war continues. A diplomatic tit-for-tat ensued in which both countries banned ministers and Israeli leaders accused the Spanish government of being “antisemitic.”

Albares said that in pressuring Israel to end the war in Gaza, Spain is defending the principles that underpin the creation of the United Nations after World War II — peace, justice, human rights and human dignity.

On another contentious issue, the minister defended Spain's refusal to spend 5% of its gross domestic product on defense as U.S. President Donald Trump demanded. At a NATO conference in June, the Sánchez government was the only NATO member to say it would not increase spending to that level.

“We are going to meet the targets and the commitments that are needed for Euro-Atlantic security within NATO,” Albares said. “We said in order to meet them we don't need the 5%, we can do it with 2.1%. We have already reached the 2% target.”

Citing Spain's military deployments along Europe's eastern flank including “a historical peak” of 3,000 soldiers among its contributions to European security, he said, “We are a very committed ally to transatlantic security."

Albares said the U.S. is a “historic, natural ally” of Spain and Europeans. “Let's keep doing it in the same way. But, of course, we need two for a tango," he said. What's clear, Albares said, is that Europe must increasingly take its destiny into its own hands whether it's ramping up internal trade or security.

Looking at broader challenges from the severity of wars to poverty, climate change and artificial intelligence advancements with no guardrails, Albares said the only answer to address them is by all countries working together — the multilateral approach that underpins the U.N. mission.

“At the end," he said, “cooperation is always much ... stronger than confrontation.”

Naishadham reported from Madrid.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a high-profile meeting at the United Nations aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares speaks during an interview at United Nations headquarters, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares speaks during an interview at United Nations headquarters, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A federal judge in Minnesota on Thursday ordered the release of a Liberian man four days after heavily armed immigration agents broke into his home using a battering ram and arrested him.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan said in his ruling that the agents violated Garrison Gibson’s Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure.

“To arrest him, Respondents forcibly entered Garrison G.’s home without his consent and without a judicial warrant,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security has been ramping up immigration arrests in Minnesota in what the department has called its largest enforcement operation. DHS says its officers have arrested more than 2,500 people since Nov. 29.

Marc Prokosch, Gibson’s attorney, said he was “thrilled” by the judge's order. He had filed a habeas corpus petition, used by courts to determine if an imprisonment is legal, and called the arrest a “blatant constitutional violation" since the agents did not have a proper warrant.

Gibson’s wife was inside their Minneapolis home with the couple’s 9-year-old child during the raid. Prokosch said she was deeply shaken by the arrest.

Gibson, 37, was being held at an immigration detention center in Albert Lea after being held at a large camp on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, according to ICE’s detainee locator.

DHS did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment on the order and has not responded to a prior email with follow-up questions about Gibson’s case.

Gibson, who fled the Liberian civil war as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed by the courts. He had remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities.

Only days before his arrest, Gibson had checked in with immigration authorities at regional immigration offices — the same building where agents have been staging enforcement raids in recent weeks.

Bryan said in his Thursday order that he agrees with Gibson's assertions that since he had already been released on an order of supervision, officials “violated applicable regulations” by not giving him enough notice that it had been revoked and the reasoning, as well as not providing him an interview right after he was detained.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department, had said that Gibson has “a lengthy rap sheet (that) includes robbery, drug possession with intent to sell, possession of a deadly weapon, malicious destruction and theft.” She did not indicate if those were arrests, charges or convictions.

Court records indicate Gibson’s legal history shows only the one felony in 2008, along with a few traffic violations, minor drug arrests and an arrest for riding public transportation without paying the fare.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — has been wracked by fear and anger in the aftermath of the killing of Renee Good, who was shot Jan. 7 during a confrontation with agents. On Wednesday, a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle.

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)