The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, proposed on Monday a bill to embargo arms to Israel that, if approved by the Congress of Deputies, would immediately prohibit the sale of weapons to the Hebrew state. In the last 20 years, Spain has maintained a steady pace of defense material exports to Israel. And, although our country has imported more than it has sold during this time, Spain has made shipments of material worth over 84 million euros.
The State of Israel is the fifteenth largest arms importer in the world, with a 1.9% share of total purchases in the period between 2020 and 2024, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In fact, according to data from the same organization, Israel has increased its Defense spending from 5.4% of its GDP in 2023 to 8.8% in 2024, during full-scale war. Additionally, in 2024, Israel spent about $4,988 on Defense per capita, nearly three times more than Ukraine, with $1,728 per capita.
Spain, on the other hand, is the ninth largest exporter of defense material in the same period, with a 3% share of the total exported globally. However, despite Israel's significant spending in the sector and Spain being a leader among exporting countries, the Spain-Israel trade relationship has not been as intense as with other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Australia, or Turkey, the top three foreign markets for Spanish companies.
In total, from 2005 to the first half of 2024, Spain has sold 84,872,875 euros in arms and dual-use technology to Israel, according to the Subdirectorate General for International Trade in Defense Material and Dual Use. Of this amount, 49 million euros correspond to the sale of dual-use technology, which serves both civilian and military purposes. This includes machinery, toxins, propulsion systems, information security, avionics, sensors, among other capabilities. Regarding weapons, Spain has sold just over 35 million euros to Israel in the last two decades, including bombs, torpedoes, missiles, infrared imaging equipment, sights, targeting equipment, and ammunition.
Data analyzed by EL MUNDO shows that since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Spain has drastically reduced arms sales to this country. However, in 2024, exports totaling over 1,350,000 euros were recorded. Of these, 1,222,000 euros were for weapon sights, gun targeting systems, and weapon control systems, among other components that make up the fire control systems.
FIRST UNILATERAL EMBARGO ON ISRAEL
If the embargo announced by Sánchez comes into effect after parliamentary proceedings, Spain will be prohibited from selling any type of arms to Israel. This would be Spain's first legally binding real arms embargo, and the first to Israel in the world in the last half-century, as confirmed to this medium by the Delàs Center for Peace Studies.
In addition, the Government has canceled two arms contracts with Israeli companies worth nearly 1 billion euros on Tuesday, as reported by Artículo 14. These are two contracts awarded in 2023 and expiring at the end of the current fiscal year. The first contract is valued at 287 million euros and is intended to supply 168 SPIKE LR2 anti-tank missile systems. At the same time, the second project, valued at 697 million euros, is a contract to supply the High Mobility Rocket Launcher System (SILAM).
Furthermore, the research center itself warned on Monday that "the announcement by the President of the Government comes late" and they hope that it "does not contain any omissions or fine print." This is because arms embargoes generally prohibit the sale of weapons and, in many cases, leave a legal loophole regarding the export of dual-use technology, which can have civilian, military, and even be used for nuclear weapons production, as defined by the Tax Agency.
For example, the European Union maintains arms embargoes with Russia, Venezuela, and China, whose members must comply with the sanctions of the European body. However, Spain has continued to sell this dual-use technology, which in many cases provides technological and military capabilities to countries sanctioned by international organizations such as the EU, the UN, or the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe).
In line with sales to Israel in the last 20 years, the Sánchez government has been the period in which the most has been sold for each year in office. During the coalition administration, which includes sales from the second half of 2018 to the first half of 2024, sales reached 6,123,000 euros per year in office, while during Mariano Rajoy's tenure in La Moncloa, 5,788,000 euros were sold per year. With José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, only 1.5 million euros were sold per year between 2005 and 2011.