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Spain Announces Arms Embargo on Israel and Other Steps ‘to Stop the Genocide in Gaza’

“This is not self-defense,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asserted, “it is the extermination of a defenseless people and a violation of every international law.”

Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams, Sep 08, 2025

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday announced a series of nine new measures—including a total arms embargo—aimed at pressuring the government of fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to stop the genocide in Gaza.”

Sánchez, who leads the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), announced the steps during a speech in which he first acknowledged the historical suffering of the Jewish people, which includes the 1492 ethnic cleansing of Jews from Spain.

“The Jewish people have suffered countless persecutions, deserve to have their own state, and to feel secure,” Sánchez said. “That is why the Spanish government has condemned Hamas’ attacks from day one.”

However, “there is a difference between defending your country and bombing hospitals or starving innocent children,” the prime minister continued. “This is an unjustifiable attack on the civilian population, which the [United Nations] rapporteur has described as genocide.”

“Sixty thousand dead, two million displaced, half of them children,” Sánchez said. “This is not self-defense, it is not even an attack—it is the extermination of a defenseless people and a violation of every international law.”

The nine measures—which must be approved by lawmakers and the Cabinet—include:

• A “legal and permanent prohibition” on the purchase and sale of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment;
• A ban on transit through Spanish ports for all ships carrying fuels destined for Israel’s military;
• Denial of entry into Spanish airspace for all state aircraft carrying military equipment to Israel;
• A ban on entry to Spain for “all persons directly involved in genocide, human rights violations, and war crimes” in Gaza;
• Prohibition of imported products from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories;
• Limitation of consular services for Spanish citizens residing in illegal Israeli settlements;
• Strengthened support for the Palestinian Authority;
• An additional €10 million in support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA); and
• An increase in overall humanitarian spending for Gaza, to reach €150 million by 2026……………………………………………………………………………….. https://www.commondreams.org/news/spain-arms-embargo-israel

September 12, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Spain, weapons and war