Spain awarded Israel defence firms 46 contracts since Gaza war: report

MADRID: Spain has awarded 46 contracts worth more than one billion euros to Israeli defence 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 the war following Hamas´s attack on Israel on October 7, 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.