Spain’s parliament approves formal arms embargo on Israel

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain’s parliament on Wednesday passed a government decree formalizing a total arms embargo on Israel, part of a broader package of sanctions announced last month in response to the Israeli war on Gaza.

Spain, one of Israel’s strongest critics in the European Union, says the decree bans exports and imports of all defense and dual-use technology to and from Israel, prohibits ships and aircraft carrying fuel or material for possible military use from entering Spanish ports and airspace, according to the Spanish government.

The vote passed narrowly after the far-left Podemos party joined other left-wing and regional allies in supporting the decree.

Podemos leader Ione Belarra, who had withheld her party’s position until the final hours, said the government must go further by canceling existing contracts and cutting all ties with Israel.

She had earlier described the decree as a “fake embargo,” accusing the government of continuing with arms contracts and allowing “four ships carrying US military equipment bound for Israel” to dock in Spanish ports despite the decree going into effect last month.

During a parliamentary debate on Tuesday, Spain’s Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo defended the embargo as “a firm step and pioneering at an international level.”

Defense Minister Margarita Robles defended the measure as “the final step in a long process” that began after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, saying Spain “stopped selling military material to Israel that very day.”

The conservative Popular Party (PP) and far-right Vox opposed the decree.

The vote, initially scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed one day to avoid coinciding with the anniversary of the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people. Israel’s Embassy in Madrid had criticized the timing as “perverse and inhuman.”​​​​​​​

The embargo is part of a sanctions package adopted by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government in September, which also includes a ban on imports of products from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and increased humanitarian assistance to Palestine.

It also blocks imports from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.