READ HERE: Spain has canceled a $6.48 million contract with an Israeli defense company in light of the country’s actions in Gaza, expanding on a previous pledge not to sell weapons to Israel to encompass the purchase of weapons as well.
The government had previously agreed to buy more than 15 million 9mm rounds of ammunition in a $6.48 million contract from Guardian LTD Israel for its national Guardia Civil police force.
However, the Spanish Interior Ministry announced in a statement that it is reversing course for political reasons.
“The Spanish government maintains the commitment not to sell weapons to the Israeli state since the armed conflict broke out in the territory of Gaza. Although in this case it is an acquisition of ammunition, the Interior Ministry has initiated the administrative procedure to cancel the purchase,” the statement read.
The Interior Ministry added that it will disqualify all Israeli companies from bidding for future tenders as long as the war in Gaza continues.
Spain is one of the few European nations that has been willing to take a very strong stance against Israel’s genocide and war crimes in Gaza and Lebanon, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez encouraging his fellow EU members to suspend their free trade agreement with Israel earlier this month.
Sanchez stated: “The European Commission must respond once and for all to the formal request made by two [Spain and Ireland] to suspend the association agreement with Israel if it is found, as everything suggests, that human rights are being violated.”
After meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, he made a call to the international community as a whole to stop exporting weapons to the Jewish state, saying: “I do believe that it is urgent that, in light of everything that is happening in the Middle East, the international community stops exporting weapons to the government of Israel,” he told reporters.
“This is an appeal that I will make… to the entire international community.”
He added that no one should contribute to the violence in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.