Spain’s interior ministry interior ministry said it met the commitment not to sell or buy Israeli weapons [Getty]
Spain has awarded 46 contracts worth more than one billion euros to Israeli arms firms since the outbreak of the Gaza war, breaking the leftist government’s pledge not to trade arms with Israel, researchers said on Friday.
Their conclusions come after a now-cancelled deal with an Israeli company to supply bullets to the Spanish Civil Guard rocked the Socialist-led minority coalition government this week.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, halted weapons transactions with Israel after the start of Israel’s latest war on Gaza in October 2023.
But according to Centre Delas, a Barcelona-based think tank specialising in security and defence, the government has granted 46 contracts worth 1,044,558,955 euros ($1.2 billion) to Israeli companies based on data published on a public tenders platform.
Of the 46 contracts, which include deals for rocket launchers and missiles, 10 have not been formalised, the think tank said in a statement on Friday that previewed an upcoming report.
“It is clearly demonstrated that the government lied, there was no pledge, that was pure propaganda,” report co-author Eduardo Melero told AFP.
Although some contracts were to maintain or modernise previously acquired products, others were new deals that “could increase the dependence… on an industry essential to perpetrate a genocide”, the statement said.
“If the government had agreed a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel that included, among other measures, imports and bans on hiring Israeli defence companies or their subsidiaries, none of these contracts would have been signed,” the statement added.
– ‘Political purposes’ –
The interior ministry told AFP it met the commitment not to sell or buy Israeli weapons and that the report included contracts which the government has announced it will terminate.
“Consignments of equipment destined for self-defence are also included and which are not considered subject to the pledge not to sign weapons purchase contracts with Israeli companies,” the ministry said.
According to Melero, items such as bulletproof material count as defence equipment in Spanish legislation and buying them “is clearly against the pledge”.
The defence ministry had not responded to a request for comment.
On Thursday, Israel condemned the cancellation of the contract to supply bullets to the Civil Guard and accused the Spanish government of “sacrificing security considerations for political purposes”.
Spain “continues to stand on the wrong side of history — against the Jewish state that is defending itself from terrorist attacks”, the Israeli foreign ministry said.
Israel’s war on Gaza has caused a humanitarian crisis and killed over 61,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s government media office.
