08.10.2025 22:49
The Spanish parliament approved the decision to impose an arms embargo on Israel with 178 votes in favor and 169 against.
The parliament in Spain has approved the decision to impose an arms embargo on Israel.
SPAIN WILL IMPOSE AN ARMS EMBARGO ON ISRAEL
The decree regarding the imposition of an arms embargo on Israel, which is among the sanctions imposed by the minority left coalition government in Spain due to the genocide it committed in Gaza, was accepted in the vote held in the Parliament.
The arms embargo, which was the most debated among the 9 sanctions decisions taken by the government against Israel in the Cabinet on September 9, was approved by the Parliament, albeit with difficulty, as its decree was delayed until September 23, citing "legal process" as the reason compared to other items.
Although the decree was normally scheduled to be discussed in the Parliament on October 7, the voting was postponed to today due to the fact that this date coincided with the second anniversary of the Aksa Flood carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, under pressure from Israel. The decree was accepted with the support of the Basque and Catalan nationalist parties and Podemos, which provide external support to the minority government, despite the opposing votes of the right-wing People's Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party.
OPPOSITION LEADER IN SPAIN: YOU ARE IMPLEMENTING A FAKE EMBARGO
Podemos, known as the party that exerts the "harshest political pressure against Israel" in Spain and has 4 members in the Parliament, became key to the passage of the decree despite opposing it with the accusation of "not a real arms embargo, but a fake."
Podemos leader Ione Belarra, in a statement on her social media account on Instagram, accused the Sanchez government of not taking clear steps regarding the arms trade and the passage of military equipment to be sent to Israel, which has two main contributions to the genocide in Palestine, stating, "You are implementing a fake embargo." She used the following expressions:
"Podemos will continue its demand for the severance of all relations with Israel and the implementation of a complete arms embargo, and today we will allow the approval of this Royal decree. Because we believe that this is the best way for everyone to see that Spain continues its military relations with Israel, and this is not due to the vote of any group in the Parliament, but stems from the government's imposition of a fake embargo."
SPAIN HAD DECIDED ON SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL
Although the Spanish government has long claimed that it has not engaged in arms trade with Israel since the genocide that has been ongoing in Gaza for 2 years, some civil society organizations have pressured the government by asserting the opposite with history and contracts. Due to both internal pressures and the diplomatic crisis with Israel, the government had decided on a 9-item sanctions decision against Israel on September 9.
CONTRACT WITH ISRAELI COMPANY TERMINATED
The Spanish government had begun to implement the sanctions decisions against Israel, which included urgent measures against the genocide in Gaza and support for the Palestinian people, taken in the Cabinet on September 23. Spanish state television RTVE announced that the Interior Ministry had started the process of terminating the contracts for the purchase of Israeli ammunition for the gendarmerie "due to the impossibility of fulfilling" them.
In the news based on sources and documents from the Interior Ministry, it was reported that documents regarding the termination of the purchase of 9x19 millimeter ammunition worth 6.6 million euros from the Israeli company IMI Systems LTD, represented by Guardian Homeland Security S.A. in Spain, had been signed. It was noted that this was the last contract in force and terminated by the Interior Ministry related to Israeli companies.
SPAIN HAD RECOGNIZED PALESTINE AS A STATE
Since Israel's formal recognition of the State of Palestine by Spain, it has not been represented at the ambassadorial level in this country since May 2024.