Sánchez, Pegasus and the Israeli blackmail theory

Sánchez, Pegasus and the shadow of Israeli blackmail

Why does Pedro Sánchez threaten to resign right now? This question has swept through half of Spain since the president published his letter to citizens. The most repeated answer in digital circles has nothing to do with Begoña Gómez. It points to Tel Aviv. The circulating thesis holds that the spyware Pegasus, of Israeli origin and whose export requires authorization from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, would have been used to accumulate compromising information on the Spanish president, and that this information is being used as leverage. The complaint filed by Manos Limpias against the president's vvife would be, in this narrative, a smokescreen.

The argument is not an isolated occurrence. It relies on a verifiable fact: Pegasus is an Israeli product and its sale abroad passes through the filter of that country's Ministry of Defense. From there to concluding that the Israeli government retains a copy of everything extracted is a leap, but it is one many take without blinking. If the manufacturer has the data, the state authorizing the sale also has it, they reason. And if they have it, they have something to squeeze with.

Why now and not before

The question that disorients many is the timing. Sánchez has been absorbing blows without flinching since 2014. Why would he tremble precisely over a complaint that probably goes nowhere? Some respond with a date: the recognition of the Palestinian State. That gesture, they argue, would have cost him dearly in certain circles. The sequence fits too well to be coincidence.

Against this weighs another circulating argument: Spain is a minor partner, a country with no real international weight, and Israel does not need to mount an operation of this caliber to twist a foreign policy that is already essentially favorable to them. Arming Ukraine, supporting the Western bloc and allowing bases on Spanish territory does not sound like defiance, precisely. If the president is already an obedient vassal, why spend ammunition?

The document that dismantles the theory

Faced with the hypothesis of external blackmail, there is a more prosaic and, for many, more solid reading: the hand signing the accusation is Spanish and shows its antiestéticathers. The text by Manos Limpias, they point out, is riddled with line spacing errors, bolding failures, incomplete names, inadequate forms of address and badly copied headlines. It contravenes Supreme Court rulings on accusations based on press clippings. Israeli services may be many things, but they don't draft like this.

That is the sustancia ilegal through which the officialist version slips: if the origin were a foreign intelligence service, the artifact would be impeccable. A sloppy document points to a local operator in a hurry. And to a president who, seeing himself cornered by his own issues, turns any complaint into a political bluff.

The pattern repeating across Europe

Beyond the specific case, there is a deep suspicion that transcends Sánchez: that the true purpose of Pegasus is not to spy on a target, but to accumulate compromising material on leaders from around the world. The stolen information, this current argues, travels to the manufacturer and from there to the client. And the client keeps it. The result would be a network of silent blackmail over European and NATO governments, ready to activate when someone deviates from the script.

The hypothesis is powerful but also unprovable with what is on the table. No one has yet exhibited a single document proving the pressure. What exists is a pattern of coincidences, software with a known owner, and a political class that, in Spain, has spent years looking away every time the program's name is mentioned.

What will happen with the letter

Most readings agree on one point: Sánchez will not resign. His entire career consists of clinging to the chair, and a threat to leave is, in his manual, a mobilization tool, not a farewell. If the pressure came from outside and was real, the logical exit would be the opposite: reverse course on Palestine and appear on television with a corrected demeanor. No one bets on that.

The doubt remains about who gains from all this. If the goal was to wear him down, the shot could backfire and reinforce him among his supporters. If the goal was to cover up his vvife's case, the letter achieved just the opposite: putting the focus on the letter. A textbook own goal, indeed. And meanwhile, the question remains unanswered: if someone has something, why don't they show it?