Madrid, Spain – The Government of Spain arrested a controversial agreement of $ 7.5 million to buy ammunition from Israel on Thursday, after criticism of the extreme left allies within the rumoring minority coalition.
The country’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will intervene to cancel the agreement after adding, a group of leftist parties, submitted to leave the ruling coalition.
“After exhausting all the routes for negotiation, the prime minister, the Vice Prime Minister and the ministries involved have decided to terminate this contract with the Israeli company IMI Systems”, a government source, who did not want to go to Jehishe Goverment.
Spain has criticized the Israel War against Gaza, and in October 2023, promised to stop Sellons to Israel. In February 2024, he said he would not buy weapons from Israel either. However, in the same month, the Spanish Interior Ministry signed an agreement with IMI solutions to buy 15 million rounds of ammunition. The ammunition was intended for the Civil Guard, the semi-military police force of Spain.
However, after the protests of five ministers to add, the Spanish government requested a study to determine if it was feasible to cancel the order.
“In October 2024, a study began at the end of the possible termination of the contract. After the study, the Ministry decided to follow the recommendation of the state prosecutor, who advised the end of the contract at that stage, so the contract was honored by the spokesman to end” the contract would have involved paying … [IMI Solutions] Without receiving the material. “
On Wednesday, April 23, the Interior Ministry said it would continue with the Arms Agreement, six months after trying to cancel it, to avoid paying compensation to the Israeli company.
In response, Yolanda Díaz, Vice Primer Minister and Leader of Add, told journalists in Barcelona: “This agreement must be rectified. I insist, it is a flagrant violation of the agreements when we are witnessing the living genocide of the Palestinian people.”
The analysts said that the row could further damage the relations already tense between the socialists and add in the fragile government of Spain, especially after Sanchez announced on Tuesday that his government would raise defense expense to 2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to achieve the objectives of NATO, a movement that angry to add. Under the pressure of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, Spain, which has the lowest NATO budget among its 32 members, launched a plan of 10.5 billion euros ($ 12 billion) to meet the 2 percent objective this year.
The Spaniards divided the ammunition agreement, with a survey for the online newspaper 20 minutes. It shows that 48.46 percent of the 7,871 people surveyed opposed, while 46.94 percent supported the agreement and 4.58 percent felt.
“Buying this ammunition would have shown that Spain is not supporting Palestine. A bone would have a betrayal of [more than] 50,000 people who have died in Gaza in the genocide there, “said Igor Otxoa, or the Guernica Palestine organization, a civic organization, Al Jazeera.
Following the dispute, Veronica Martínez Barbero, parliamentary spokesman to add, to Jazeera Spain, should not continue with the contract.
“There is a matter of not completing promises. The Minister of Defense said he would not buy these weapons. We want it to be rectified, and this contract is not completed,” he said.
But not everyone has supported the decision to cancel the contract. Astrid Barrio López, a political analyst at the University of Valencia, told Al Jazeera that the decision “shows that it is little judicial security for colleagues with the Spanish government and little leadership within the government.”
The Israeli embassy in Madrid could not be contacted to comment.