Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced on Monday that Spain has initiated a process of sanctioning 12 Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria who it claims committed violent acts against Palestinian Arabs.
"The government of Spain has initiated the procedures to sanction a first group of 12 violent settlers," said Albares.
"We know that silence and inaction always work against the victims," he added.
Spain tried to get the European Union (EU) as a bloc to sanction so-called “violent settlers” but failed to get the unanimous support needed to approve such a move.
US President Joe Biden last month signed an executive order imposing sanctions on four Israelis over “settler violence” in Judea and Samaria.
He was followed by Britain and France. Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly also said her country plans to impose sanctions on Israelis who "incite violence" in Judea and Samaria.
A senior IDF official recently reported to the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee: "There is no such concept 'settler violence.' There is nationalistic crime, but we are talking about a few incidents."
In his remarks on Monday, Albares also said that Spain supports the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees”, UNRWA, adding his country is preparing a second emergency aid package for the agency.
A host of countries recently cut funding to UNRWA after Israel revealed that some of its employees took part in the Hamas massacre on October 7.