Spanish government cancels purchase of ammunition from Israeli brand after tensions with coalition partners
The Interior Ministry had signed an agreement to purchase some 15 million rounds of ammunition for $7.5 million but gave in to pressure from the minority member of the coalition government.
A civil guardsman with his back turned
The Spanish government has backed out of a light ammunition procurement deal with Israeli suppliers. The purchase, which was approved by the Interior Ministry, was revoked by government, led by Spanish Socialist Workers Party because of tensions with its radical left-wing coalition partners.
Throughout this week it became known that the Interior Ministry, headed by Socialist Fernando Grande-Marlaska, had approved and finalized the agreement to receive a batch of 15.3 million cartridges of light ammunition intended for state security forces.
The supplier chosen by the Ministry of the Interior was IMI Systems, an Israeli parent company in the defense sector. Prior to this contract to acquire ammunition, the same ministry had already approved the acquisition of Glock-19 type short firearms from the Israeli company Emtan, the so-called "Ramon," which fire 9x19 millimeter NATO ammunition.
When the new contract to acquire ammunition came to light, the minority partner of the government coalition, Sumar, raised concerns. Sumar, a radical leftist party, has a strong stance against Israel and its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Opposition to Israel is a defining feature of the Spanish left historically, and the party has several ministers with strong commitments to the Palestinian cause. Since the beginning of the current war in the strip, Sumar has earned some criticism for refusing to condemn the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7.
"From the river to the sea"
Then, Minister Sira Riego published a series of messages in which she defended Hamas' right to defend itself against Israel. The comments caused outrage in the Israeli government and in the Jewish community.
Months later, Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz made a statement following her government's openness to recognize a Palestinian state. In this speech, Díaz used a Palestinian slogan calling for the elimination of the State of Israel, "From the river to the sea."
Minister of Children and Youth Sira Riego stands out especially in these party positions. Yolanda Díaz, who leads Sumar in the government coalition, applauded the cancellation of the contract with the Israeli suppliers, despite the fact that this may entail economic and legal repercussions for the Spanish state.
Spain cannot do "business with a genocidal government ... that is massacring the Palestinian people," Yolanda Díaz declared to journalists on Thursday. She claimed to have negotiated with the Socialist interior and defense ministers to stop the contract.
Israel "strongly" condemned the government's decision "as well as its announcement that in the future it will refrain from concluding defense agreements with Israeli companies," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
For the Sumar party, the reversal is seen as a victory after suffering a setback on Tuesday, when the council of ministers approved, despite rejection by the radical left, a plan for some $12 billion to raise Spanish military spending to 2% of GDP, as required by NATO.
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