Sánchez, the anti-Western figure

From Gaza to the stadiums, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is crafting his image as a Palestinian hero. A convenient stance at a time when scandals are undermining his power, writes the Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, a columnist for the weekly magazine Le Point. Daoud won the Goncourt du premier roman prize for "Mersault, contre-enquête" (Actes Sud). His latest novel is "Houris" (Gallimard), for which he was awarded the Goncourt Prize. Accused of having violated the so-called “National Reconciliation Act” in “Houris” – a law prohibiting any mention of the “black decade”, the bloody civil war between the military and Islamists that ravaged the North African country from 1992 to 2002 – the court in Oran sentenced him to three years in prison last April. “Here is the headline from one of the leading Arabic newspapers: ‘Why are the hearts of Arabs inclined to support Spain in the 2026 World Cup final?’. It was before the competition had ended, but the feeling was already in the air: Spain as the inspiration for the ‘Arabs’, for Muslims and therefore for the Palestinians, for the inhabitants of Gaza, caught in the struggle for survival between Hamas and Israel.

The Arab teams – eight in this World Cup (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq) – have been disappointing and, at times, laughable. With just one win to their name, the Egyptian team has served as a pretext for intense propaganda, as if the media hype could make up for the sporting result. As for the performances of Algeria or Tunisia, it is best not to even mention them: early eliminations, lacklustre displays, nothing to capture the public’s imagination. The Moroccan team still stands out from the group, having had a remarkable run, as if it were destined to be the only one to save the day. The other topic concerns the gesture made by the young Spanish footballer Lamine Yamal. The 19-year-old striker, born in Barcelona to a Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, waved the Palestinian flag under the gaze of Pedro Sánchez. “Palestine has every right to exist,” the Prime Minister later commented, echoing the official recognition of the State of Palestine in 2024. A teenager’s gesture becomes a political symbol and an opportunity for Sánchez to take a stand. But this is not just about a social media post and a photo of a famous footballer.

It is the entire Spanish left-wing political establishment that is seeking to win over Arab sympathies and secure domestic support. With no major national projects since the end of the Franco era, and no struggles other than social ones, it can rely only on these factors. Sánchez, an anti-Western figure at the heart of the West? We’re almost there, in the eyes of his fiercest critics. The Spanish Prime Minister, whose position is faltering against a backdrop of investigations into corruption and nepotism, is focusing on three pillars to bolster his international – or at least ‘Arab’ – legitimacy. Firstly, the regularisation of nearly half a million ‘illegal immigrants’, bucking the trend of the European right. A royal decree adopted in 2026 bypassed a reluctant Parliament to grant documents to those who arrived in Spain before 31 December 2025. And what else? An anti-American stance that rejects certain Atlantic military alliances, opposes the war decisions promoted by Washington, criticises arms supplies to Israel and blocks the passage of military supply ships bound for the Jewish state through Spanish ports. But there is more: the anti-Israeli policy goes much further – sporting and cultural boycotts, radical rhetoric, a desire to break the EU-Israel partnership, a downgrading of diplomatic relations, and the reopening of the Spanish embassy in Iran… A hardline policy, rooted in a Spanish history in which anti-Semitism has been a recurring feature for centuries, from the Inquisition to the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. Added to this, as a side effect, is a suppression of any criticism of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and of the international Islamist movement, which has made Gaza its flagship cause. This amounts to giving the green light to a form of anti-Semitism that goes so far as to create worrying confusion between Jews, Israelis and Israeli policy. By now, whilst not all Muslims are to blame for the actions of Islamists, every Jew is, in certain simplistic narratives, considered ‘guilty’ of the actions of the IDF in Israel and Gaza. Behind the scenes, the challenge seems to have been laid down: the game is being played out between this ‘Arab policy’ of official Spain and the fragility of Sánchez’s domestic position.

Having come to power in 2018 following the downfall of Mariano Rajoy – who was accused of corruption in the Gürtel political and financial scandal and ousted by a historic vote of no confidence – Sánchez now finds himself embroiled, right down to his inner circle, in the very same kind of scandals. His wife, Begoña Gómez, is under investigation for influence peddling and embezzlement. His brother, David Sánchez, is accused of having benefited from a tailor-made and opaque public post, which fuels suspicions of nepotism and privilege. His rise as a hero of the Palestinian cause may well be explained by this very vulnerability. In the collective imagination of the Arab world, Sánchez joins the ranks of those theoretical liberators who have embraced the mythical Palestinian causes to escape the realities of their own countries: Saddam Hussein, Khomeini, the Houthis and others. In the so-called ‘Arab world’, this phenomenon is termed ‘Saladinism’, in reference to Saladin and his wars to ‘liberate’ Jerusalem in the Middle Ages. Is Sánchez wrong about the principle of freedom for the Palestinians and a state for them? No. But he is wrong to use windmills to drag local and ‘Arab’ public opinion into a Don Quixote-like epic: a knight who believes he is fighting for justice but who, at times, fights above all against his own ghosts.”