The Israeli foreign ministry slammed European Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera as a Hamas stooge after she described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide.

“We strongly condemn the baseless allegations made by the Executive Vice President of the European Commission,” the foreign ministry said in a post on X late Thursday. “By doing so, Ribera has made herself a mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda.”

“Instead of parroting the ‘genocide’ blood libel spread by Hamas, Ribera should have called for the release of all hostages and for Hamas to lay down its arms so that the war can end,” the ministry added.

Ribera, in the EU’s strongest condemnation of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, on Thursday told students at Sciences Po that “the genocide in Gaza exposes Europe’s failure to act and speak with one voice.”

Ribera, just like her home country Spain, has been one of the staunchest critics of Israel’s war on Gaza, but Thursday’s speech marked the first time she explicitly described the situation as genocide.

In an interview with POLITICO last month, Ribera said that the starvation, displacement and killing in Gaza “looks very much” like genocide, calling on the EU to consider suspending its Association Agreement with Israel.

The European Commission — and most EU governments — have so far avoided using the word genocide.

Israel has denied the allegations of genocide. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government says its conduct in Gaza is self-defense in response to Hamas killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Meanwhile, Israel is facing growing international condemnation ahead of this month’s United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, where some countries have said they will recognize Palestinian statehood.