Spanish government calls on the Ministry of Interior to cancel Israeli weapons order
Left junior partners of the Spanish socialist-led coalition government called on the Home Office to cancel the order of 6.6 million euros (£5.7 million) to obtain millions of bullets from an Israeli company, claiming the deal violated the coalition agreement and undermined Israel’s efforts to Israeli litigation in Canada.
Spain’s socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s prosecution of the Gaza war, questioning whether it complies with international humanitarian law and calling the Palestinian death toll “really unbearable.”
In October last year, the Ministry of Interior announced that the government’s commitment to the Israeli government canceled the Israeli company’s purchase of 15.3 million bullets after the outbreak of armed conflict from Gaza.
But what appeared on Wednesday was that the 9mm ammunition ordered on behalf of Guardia’s civilian police force was continuing because the Interior Ministry believed the contract was too far away, too expensive, too expensive to cancel.
The obvious turnaround prompted an angry response from the Sumar platform, founded by Spanish Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz and one of the country’s three deputy prime ministers.
The platform described the contract as a “blatant violation” of the government’s commitment to suspending the purchase of weapons from Israel and demanding immediate cancellation of weapons. It also called on the Socialist Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska to appear before the MPs to explain what happened.
“Our commitment to the Palestinian people is absolute,” the platform said in a statement. “That is why we repeatedly call for the purchase of weapons from Israel, diplomatic relations with Israel, the imposition of sanctions, and the International Criminal Court has supported in its issued arrest warrants [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his government and other members of the Israeli army. ”
The others in Sumar go further. Antonio Maíllo, federal coordinator of the platform’s joint left-wing group, said he and his colleagues would not tolerate “any part of financing for the genocide state” and said the issue caused the worst crisis between Sumal and the socialists.
Sumar rejected Sánchez’s plan to invest 10.5 billion euros to enable Spain to meet its long-range NATO commitment to spending 2% on defense as a “inconsistent” and “absolutely high.”
Sources from the Home Ministry said the department began researching the elimination of the contract six months ago and decided to proceed according to legal advice.
“The abolition of the contract will mean paying the company without receiving agreed materials, which Guardia Civil can perform its duties,” the source said.
Despite the contracts involved, they insist that the Ministry of the Interior shared the government’s commitment not to sell or buy weapons to Israel.
