1 week Ago By Olivier Acuña Barba
Spain’s government coalition almost split last night after facing its worst crisis since taking power in 2023, due to an arms deal with Israel. This prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to end the contract, drawing backlash from his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu. Late on Thursday, after highly tense back-and-forths among the PSOE’s coalition partners, Sanchez found no option but to step in directly to end the heated internal conflict by rescinding the ammunitions contract with Israel.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately released a statement “firmly condemning” Sanchez’s decision to backtrack on the nearly 7 million euro ammunition contract. The Spanish prime minister’s decision has deepened bilateral diplomatic relations. “Israel strongly condemns the Spanish government’s decision to cancel a contract they signed with the defense systems firm IMI and its announcement that they will abstain from concluding agreements with Israeli defense companies in the future,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said.
Most Read on Euro Weekly News Spain leads charge for peace in Gaza Sanchez champions Gaza ceasefire Sanchez's diplomatic dash to Norway and Ireland Spain currently has seven other defense contracts pending approval with Israel. However, Sanchez’s government said they would review each one of the pending contracts, but Netanyahu left no room for further business with Spain in the future. In 2023, Sanchez visited Israel and strongly advocated for a diplomatic path in tackling terrorism following the recent Hamas attacks.
He also threatened to recognise the Palestinian State, causing the start of tensions between Madrid and Tel Aviv. News outlet exposes the truth Late last year, the Spanish government announced that the 7 million euro contract would be nixed, which made sense as Spain is one of Europe’s most outspoken critics of Israel’s war on Gaza and had maintained an embargo on the purchase or sale of weapons from the country since 2023. However, on Wednesday, Spanish radio network Cadena Ser revealed that the controversial contract to purchase 15 million rounds of 9mm ammunition for the Guardia Nacional was still in effect.
Spain’s Ministry of the Interior concluded that the deal could not be annulled without substantial legal and financial strife. Yolanda Diaz, the Minister of Labour and head of the junior coalition partner Sumar, demanded immediate cancellation of the contract and threatened to abandon the coalition. Politico said : “Spain’s government was already in turmoil over Sanchez’s announcement earlier this week that Madrid would hike defence spending to 2 per cent of the GDP.
” The prime minister said the 10.5 billion euro defence spending plan is to ensure Spain meets its long-delayed NATO commitment of investing 2 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence, now that it has “become obvious that only Europe will know how to protect Europe.” Sanchez was referring to US President Donald Trump’s stance on Ukraine and Russia.
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