Madrid, Spain – While Spain’s leaders have joined the global chorus denouncing the war in Gaza, their actions tell a different story. Beyond political speeches and resolutions, Spain continues to import weapons from Israel.
Since October 2023, as the world watched the escalation of violence in Gaza, Spain has imported at least €54 million worth of arms from Israel, according to a new report by the Centre Delàs for Peace Studies. The weapons trade, it seems, has not halted.
Data from Spain’s commerce portal, DataComex, shows that between February and May 2025, the country was the top European Union (EU) importer of Israeli arms, even as it voted in favor of United Nations resolutions condemning the occupation.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Second Vice President Yolanda Díaz have publicly committed to pursuing a law that would allow Spain to impose arms embargoes on countries under investigation for war crimes, genocide, or crimes against humanity.
The bill entered parliamentary process on May 20, 2025, and is expected to be debated in September. But it remains unclear: will the law cover only exports, or will it also ban imports, military agreements, and the transit of weapons?
When pressed about the arms trade, Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles claimed that the country is cutting ties with Israel, insisting that there are only “old contracts” still in place.
“From time to time, reports appear,” she said, “[but] I don’t really know where they come from. Our commitment is a clear one.”
“Words are not enough. We need real measures against war and violence,” she added.
This debate hasn’t gone unnoticed by the cultural sector. More than 1,200 figures from Spain, including directors, actors and writers, recently demanded that Sánchez impose a full arms embargo through an urgent Royal Decree.
Among the signatories were the acclaimed actress Alba Flores, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, winner of multiple Goya Awards, and Guillermo Solana, director of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. They described any continued military trade with Israel as “active complicity in genocide.”
This diplomatic position stands in sharp contrast to Slovenia, the only European country to announce a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel. Civil society groups, however, also warn that this move remains purely symbolic.
In Spain, legal pressure is mounting. The International Court of Justice, for one, argued in July that states ought to end all trade and investment that supports Israel’s “illegal” occupation of Palestinian territories.
The country voted in favor of a similar UN resolution, yet continues to trade with Israeli arms manufacturers, many of which are directly linked to the Israeli military and its actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
A bigger picture of the region shows that the European Union (EU)- Israel’s largest trading partner- has tools at its disposal. The organization’s 27 member states could theoretically freeze arms licenses and halt collaborations with companies involved in the occupation, although not a single EU country has taken such actions, as per Al Jazeera.
According to UN reports, over 1,400 starving civilians have been killed at militarized food distribution points in Gaza, yet the weapons provision and starvation continue.
But beyond this contradiction, deeper questions remain: what has to change in the international system to break Europe’s dependency on Israeli military technology? Why do institutions that call themselves progressive hesitate in the face of mass civilian death? What can civil society really do, beyond letters and petitions, to force a government to act with integrity?
Featured image:
Image: Pedro Sánchez welcomes Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, 2024
Source: La Moncloa via Flickr
License: Creative Commons Licenses
