Spain: Opposition accuses government of “hypocrisy” over arms sales to Israel

MADRID – Spain’s left-wing opposition party Podemos on Tuesday accused the government of “hypocrisy” over arms sales to Israel.

This came in a statement by party leader Ioni Belarra, following a report by the Delas Center for Peace Studies on arms exports to Israel in 2022 and 2023.

In a seminar to discuss the report’s findings, Belarra said that arms exports from Spain to Israel since October 7, 2023, amounted to 1.27 billion euros ($1.37 billion).

She added that these facts contradict the claims of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares that no arms sales have been made to Israel since the beginning of its war on the Gaza Strip last October.

“I have no words to describe the shame I feel for the hypocrisy of the Spanish government,” Belarra said in comments on social media.

The government has not commented on the Delas Center report and Belarra’s accusations of hypocrisy in this regard, but since the beginning of the war, Spain has called on Israel to stop the war, and last May it recognized the State of Palestine in confirmation of its support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

Since October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza with American support, leaving more than 126,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of dozens of children.

Tel Aviv continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolutions to stop it immediately, and the International Court of Justice orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Anatolia