Spain has canceled a 700 million euro ($825 million) deal for Israeli-designed rocket launchers, deepening the leftist government’s hardline stance against the Jewish state over the war in Gaza.
Spain’s official public contracts platform registered the cancellation on Sept. 9, according to an official document seen Monday by AFP. A day earlier, Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez presented nine harsh measures against Israel to “prevent genocide in Gaza,” a charge that Jerusalem and Washington vehemently deny.
The Socialist Party leader announced that the country will approve a royal decree in law to establish a comprehensive arms embargo against Israel, banning all military trade and technology exports.
The contract for 12 SILAM rocket launcher systems was awarded to a consortium of Spanish companies. It is the locally produced version of the Israeli Elbit Systems’ PULS platform.
Madrid made the order just three days after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, which started the war, according to the news site Army Recognition. The Oct. 12, 2023, article noted that the system was “poised to become a cornerstone of Spain’s artillery capabilities.”
Madrid has announced other weapons cancellations during Jerusalem’s nearly two-year war with the Hamas terror group in Gaza, including last October, a 6 million euro ($7.1 million) contract for 15 million 9 mm rounds for the Spanish police force from Guardian LTD Israel.
AFP reported on Monday that Spain has finalized the cancellation of another contract for 168 anti-tank missile launchers, which were slated for licensed production from an Israeli defense company. That agreement, worth 287 million euros ($296 million), was initially disclosed by the media in June. The contract was awarded to Pap Tecnos, the Spanish subsidiary of Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, in October 2023.
Spanish daily La Vanguardia reports that the government is conducting a wider review aimed at systematically removing Israeli weapons and technology from its military forces.
Meanwhile, diplomatic relations between Madrid and Jerusalem sank further on Tuesday as Israel’s charge d’affaires, Dana Erlich, was summoned after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called Sánchez “an antisemite and a liar” on Monday. Sa’ar’s statement came after the prime minister urged that Israel be boycotted by all international competitions, likening its war against Hamas in Gaza to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Erlich was summoned over “the unacceptable words and positions of the Israeli foreign minister,” according to Spain’s Foreign Ministry.
Jerusalem recalled its ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, last year after Madrid announced its intention to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.
Erlich was previously summoned on Sept. 12 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the previous night, accused Sánchez of having issued a “blatant genocidal threat” against Israel earlier in the week.
On Sept. 8, announcing the series of actions against Israel to “prevent genocide in Gaza,” Sánchez tried to explain why Madrid cannot stop the war against Hamas.
“Spain does not have nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers or vast oil reserves,” he said in his national address. “On our own, we cannot stop the Israeli offensive. But that does not mean we will stop trying,” he said.
Netanyahu called the statement “a blatant genocidal threat to the world’s only Jewish state.”
“Apparently, the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews of Spain and the systematic mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust is not enough for Sánchez,” continued Netanyahu. “Incredible.”
