Spain scraps order for millions of bullets from Israel

Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza Spain has "unilaterally" pulled out of a €6.6m order for millions of bullets from an Israeli company, after pressure from partners in the government’s left-wing coalition. The country suspended arms sales to Israel soon after it began its military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, and then expanded this the following year to weapons imports. Its socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez , has been one of Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel’s conduct during the war in Gaza, recognising a Palestinian state alongside Ireland and Norway last year. It has also been a central player in plans for a peace conference . But he faced a backlash from the left-wing Sumar movement, which is a part of his coalition, when it emerged that the Interior Ministry would go ahead with a purchase of 15.3 million rounds of ammunition from the Israeli company IMI Systems. The ministry said the contract was too far advanced and would be too expensive to cancel, and that the Guardia Civil police were in need of bullets. Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz, who founded Sumar, led the backlash that forced the Ministry of Interior to back down. “The important thing today is that it is finally rescinded, and that the government of Spain does not do business with a genocidal government, as in this case it is the one massacring the Palestinian people,” she said on Thursday, after the cancellation was announced. A representative for the Israeli Foreign Ministry hit out at the decision on Friday, telling the Spanish national newspaper El Pais that: “Israel strongly condemns the Spanish government’s decision to unilaterally break a contract signed with the company IMI Systems. "The Spanish government is sacrificing security considerations for political purposes and continues to be on the wrong side of history against the Jewish state that is defending itself from terrorist attacks on seven fronts,” the representative added. The rift within the Spanish government was part of a wider disagreement between the socialists and Sumar, over Mr Sanchez’s plans to invest €10.5 billion to reach its Nato commitment of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence. Sumar has described the move as “incoherent” and “exorbitant”. On Thursday, a government source told Reuters it had decided to stick to its October 2023 commitment not to provide Israeli companies with arms or revenue flows "and nor will it do so in future". The source said the Israeli company would be denied permission to import the defence material by the Spanish authorities on "public interest" grounds, the Interior Ministry would rescind the contract and government lawyers would respond to any subsequent legal claims. Though European countries voiced support for Israel’s right to self-defence after the October 7 Hamas attacks, many have begun to suspend or reduce arms sales to Israel as its military campaign in Gaza presses on. France said it had ceased transferring arms to Israel in October last year, months after it banned Israeli companies from exhibiting at Eurosatory, the world’s largest arms expo, which takes place in France. The UK’s new Labour government suspended 30 of 350 arms export licences to Israel and has faced pressure to ban all arms exports, in particular the licence to sell components for F-35 combat aircraft. Germany has said it will not suspend arms to Israel, but it was made to defend its policy at the International Court of Justice last year after Nicaragua’s government accused it of complicity in war crimes committed by the Israeli military in Gaza. Yet arms sales fell dramatically from €326 million in 2023 to €14.5 million by August 2024, according to data from the German Economic Ministry, forcing it to deny claims that it had unofficially suspended sales. Norway, another vocal critic of Israel’s military conduct in Gaza, has a policy of not supplying weapons to war zones, a rule it has relaxed for Ukraine, but not for Israel. Italy said it halted arms sales at the outbreak of the Gaza war, but contracts signed before October 7, 2023 have continued. The regional governments of Wallonia and Flanders in Belgium have said they will not strengthen Israel’s military, with Wallonia suspending two licences to the explosives company PB Clermont last year.

Spain scraps order for millions of bullets from Israel

Government banned arms sales to Israel over its conduct in Gaza in 2023, but decision to go ahead with contract signed before October 7 caused backlash